The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Young teen Julia is just living her young teen life in California when one day everything changes--for some inexplicable reason, the rotation of the earth starts to slow down. Time suddenly takes on a whole new meaning. It's dark when it should be light and light when it should be dark and a day is no longer only 24 hours. Plus there's something funny going on with gravity. All of which is wreaking havoc on nature and civilization. That is the frightening yet compelling premise of The Age of Miracles.
Walker paints a very graphic picture of life in this world--when the birds die off, the insects start running amok. When the sun shines for so many hours and days in a row, sunburn is the least of your worries. And the changing weather means some foods start disappearing: "That was the last grape I would ever eat." But it's the stories of the people that really struck a chord. I was particularly touched by the plot involving Julia's grandfather.
This book reminded me a lot of the equally compelling One Second After (in which an electromagnetic pulse throws the eastern half of the United States pretty much back into the 1700s).
Walker paints a very graphic picture of life in this world--when the birds die off, the insects start running amok. When the sun shines for so many hours and days in a row, sunburn is the least of your worries. And the changing weather means some foods start disappearing: "That was the last grape I would ever eat." But it's the stories of the people that really struck a chord. I was particularly touched by the plot involving Julia's grandfather.
This book reminded me a lot of the equally compelling One Second After (in which an electromagnetic pulse throws the eastern half of the United States pretty much back into the 1700s).
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