Alice LaPlante's acclaimed psychological thrillers are distinguished by their stunning synthesis of family drama and engrossing suspense. Her new novel is an affecting foray deeper into the creases of family life—and the light-and-dark battle of faith—as LaPlante delves into the barbed psyche of a teenager whose misguided convictions bear irrevocable consequences. Never one to conform, Anna always had trouble fitting in. Earnest and willful, as a young girl she quickly learned how to hide her quirks from her parents and friends. But when, at sixteen, a sudden melancholia takes hold of her life, she loses her sense of self and purpose. Then the Goldschmidts move in next door. They're active members of a religious cult, and Anna is awestruck by both their son, Lars, and their fervent violent prophecies for the Tribulation at the End of Days. Within months, Anna's life—her family, her home, her very identity—will undergo profound changes. But when her newfound beliefs threaten to push her over the edge, she must find her way back to center with the help of unlikely friends. An intimate story of destruction and renewal, New York Times bestselling author LaPlante delivers a haunting exploration of family legacies, devotion, and tangled relationships. Praise for Coming of Age at the End of Days "Seductive." — Vanity Fair "LaPlante crafts prose that cuts to the quick and is the perfect vehicle for this dark tale. . . . A compelling read." — Seattle Times "Spare and trenchant, as if purified by fire. . . . [LaPlante's] swift plot, combined with a few stunning twists, keep the story skipping along. . . . A crisp meditation on the deadly mixture of mental illness and religious charlatanism." — San Francisco Chronicle "Readers were captivated by the imaginative plot and cast of characters—each of whom, as one writes, 'plays a crucial role as Anna wrestles with melancholy, faith, salvation, and whether or not love can possibly trump the end of days.'" — Elle, Winner of the Readers' Prize "[ Coming of Age at the End of Days ] raises questions about mental fragility, vulnerability, and a variety of paths toward wholeness, many of which will find resonance among readers." — Bookreporter "LaPlante masterfully weaves a distressing plot in which complex, sympathetic characters, each with a complete and absorbing past, are brought to the brink of destruction . . . [a] brilliant, thought-provoking and memorable novel. It perfectly captures the dynamics of family relationships and friendships, loyalties and priorities, and the nuanced workings of an unusual mind." — Shelf Awareness "A thought-provoking bildungsroman. . . . LaPlante’s rich themes of faith and doubt, vision and blindness, emerge compellingly." — Publishers Weekly "Tension and suspense are heightened through short chapters, terse matter-of-fact prose, and what is left unsaid." — Library Journal "[With] fleet, insightful prose, LaPlante delivers gratifying . . . twists in one girl's search for salvation." — Kirkus Reviews "LaPlante has a talent for depicting family dynamics and for making the environments her characters inhabit reflect their inner states." — Booklist "An electrifying and beautifully rendered page-turner, Coming of Age at the End of Days is a richly evocative look at what it means to find yourself in a world that can feel so hopelessly lost." — Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia Alice LaPlante is an award-winning and best-selling author of numerous books, including A Circle of Wives and the New York Times bestseller Turn of Mind , which was the winner of the Wellcome Trust’s Book Prize and a B&N Discover Award finalist. She teaches creative writing at Stanford University and in the MFA program at San Francisco State University. Coming of Age at the End of Days By Alice LaPlante Grove Atlantic, Inc. Copyright © 2015 Alice LaPlante All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8021-2165-3 CHAPTER 1 ANNA LIVES IN SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA, in a housing development built in the sixties. In a subdivision that supplanted a citrus grove in what was then called the Valley of Heart's Delight. In an uninspired house that was a forerunner of the barracks that would soon obliterate all the fields and orchards and give rise to a new name for the region: Silicon Valley. Anna's street has twenty-five houses on it, but just four house models: a rancher, a colonial, a Cape Cod, and a split-level. Over the years people have added decks and landscaping, enlarged the windows and converted garages, but the skeletons of the original structures remain. When a light goes on upstairs in the colonial diagonally across the street, the mirror image of Anna's own home, Anna knows that Janie Poole, thirteen years old, has taken refuge in the bathroom to avoid the squalling of her newborn twin brothers. If the hall on the bottom floor of the split-level next door is suddenly illuminated in the late e