Shelter in Place Lib/E

Set in the Pacific Northwest in the jittery, jacked-up early '90s, Shelter in Place is a stylish literary novel about the hereditary nature of mental illness, the fleeting intensity of youth, the obligations of family, and the consequences of all-consuming love. Summer 1991. Joseph March, a twenty-one-year-old working-class kid from Seattle, is on top of the world. He has just graduated college and his future beckons, unencumbered and magnificent. But Joe's life implodes when he starts to suffer the symptoms of severe bipolar disorder and, shortly after, his mother kills a man she's never met with a hammer. Joe moves to White Pine, Oregon, where his mother is in jail and his father has set up house to be near her. He is joined by Tess Wolff, a fiercely independent woman with whom he has fallen passionately in love. The lives of Joe, Tess, and Joe's father fall into the slow rhythm of daily prison visits and beer and pizza at a local bar. Meanwhile, Anne-Marie March, Joe's mother, is gradually becoming a local heroine as many begin to see her crime as a furious, exasperated act of righteous rebellion. Tess too has fallen under her spell. Spurred on by Anne-Marie's example, Tess enlists Joe in a secret, violent plan that will forever change their lives. With an eerie magnetism, a feel for the battered spirit of modern America comparable to that of the best contemporary fiction, and characters as relatable and memorable as Miles and Alaska in John Green's Looking for Alaska, Shelter in Place tells a story about the things in life we are willing to die for, and those for which we're willing to kill.

About the Author :
Alexander Maksik is the author of the novels You Deserve Nothing, a national bestseller, and A Marker to Measure Drift, which was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book, as well as a finalist for both the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing and Le Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger. James Patrick Cronin began his audiobook career at twelve years of age opposite Christopher Lloyd in The Pagemaster. An Earphones Award-winning narrator, he has recorded over one hundred audiobooks across an extensive range of genres. A classically trained stage actor with an MFA from the University of Louisville and a degree in philosophy, he has spent his years since college performing as an actor and a comedian on stages all over the world. He has performed everything from the classics to original material in Ireland, Scotland, Serbia, and Israel, as well as all across the United States.

Review :
"Shelter in Place is a magnificent novel. Alexander Maksik charts the legacy of violence and the limits of justice with grace, power, and clarity." -- "Anthony Marra, New York Times bestselling author" "[A] scorching third novel...Where Maksik really excels is in his unrestrained depiction of a perpetually broken man who can't help loving volatile, vulnerable Tess." -- "Publishers Weekly" "A deftly crafted novel that deals with the hereditary nature of mental illness...A consistently compelling read by an impressively talented writer." -- "Midwest Book Review" "Alexander Maksik is a sorcerer of the first order, and Shelter in Place is a sharp, dark, jagged music conjured out of poetry, pain, and ecstatic bursts of beauty. This is a powerful book." -- "Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author" "An unsettling and beautiful exploration of mental illness, love, violence, family, and sexual politics...You'll be haunted by it in the best possible way." -- "Katie Roiphe, author of The Violet Hour" "On every page we're reminded of the paradox of how mysterious, thorny, and delicate family relationships can be." -- "Kirkus Reviews" "Unsettling and honest, a remarkably insightful portrait of mental illness...a beautifully written novel about the echoes of our actions, of love and its consequences." -- "Aminatta Forna, author of The Hired Man and The Memory of Love"