At the End of the World, Turn Left - by Zhanna Slor (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This unique literary mystery set in Milwaukee's eclectic Riverwest neighborhood during the 2008 recession weaves together the tale of two immigrant sisters with very different ideas of home.

Masha remembers her childhood in the former USSR, but found her life and heart in Israel. Anna was just an infant when her family fled, but yearns to find her roots. When Anna is contacted by a stranger from their homeland and then disappears, Masha is called home to Milwaukee to find her.

In 2008, college student Anna feels stuck in Milwaukee, with no real connections and parents who stifle her artistic talents. She is eager to have a life beyond the heartland. When she's contacted online by a stranger from their homeland - a girl claiming to be her long-lost sister Anna suspects a ruse or an attempt at extortion. But her desperate need to connect with - her homeland convinces her to pursue the connection. At the same time, a handsome grifter comes into her life, luring her with the prospect of a nomadic lifestyle.

Masha lives in Israel, where she went on Birthright and unexpectedly found home. When Anna disappears without a trace, Masha's father calls her back to Milwaukee to help find Anna. In her former home, Masha immerses herself in her sister's life - which forces her to recall the life she, too, had left behind, and to confront her own demons. What she finds in her search for Anna will change her life, and her family, forever.

Review Quotes

"It's rare to find a debut mystery crafted with such elegance and authenticity... Slor's next novel will be one to anticipate."
- NPR

"This wonderful debut is a match for patrons who enjoyed Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2000) or Rachel Zhong's Goodbye, Vitamin (2017). It's also a must for anyone who has ever had a needy Grandma who anticipates death every morning (this character alone is worth the read)."
-- Booklist (Starred)

"Few novels can be suspenseful, funny, and thought-provoking all at once, but Slor's has all of these qualities and more. Particularly as a debut work, At The End Of The World, Turn Left is a feat."
-- Jewish Book Council

"Slor's elegantly written and thought-provoking debut keeps the suspense high in this unconventional detective story, using her characters' musings on language and perception to enrich readers' understanding of how and why events unfold as they do. Those looking for an intricately textured tale of family relationships will be rewarded."
-- Publisher's Weekly

"Slor's debut is a powerful story of identity and longing. Masha's journey back toward her sister is moving and subtly haunting."
-- CrimeReads

"An intoxicating fever dream of a book, At the End of the World, Turn Left subverts the mystery genre in surprising ways and gives us the mysteries of real life instead: the incommunicable nature of the past, the confines of family, the gulfs love must try to cover between us. A beautiful, joyful read."
-- Rufi Thorpe, author of The Knockout Queen, Dear Fang With Love and The Girls of Corona Del Mar

"It's the particulars of At The End Of The World, Turn Left that set it apart. Slor perfectly captures the neighborhood's sights, sounds, and smells, all the while struggling with what it all means."
-- Milwaukee Record

"At The End Of The World, Turn Left is a novel about the irresistible, even destructive lure of the past."
-- Foreword Reviews

"Don't miss At The End Of The World, Turn Left--one of those gems of a novel that delivers poignant observations about life in a suspenseful page-turner. As two young sisters separately search for answers in the wonderfully offbeat neighborhood of Riverwest, Milwaukee, torn in different directions by a fascinating crew of locals the reader is taken on a heart-thumping ride that explores all the important relationships that make up our lives: our relationship to our siblings, parents, friends, country, heritage, and, lastly, to ourselves, that is the person we used to be and the one we hope to become."
-- Jessamyn Hope, author of Safekeeping

"Slor's brilliant exploration of the nature of freedom is a quintessential first generation American story told with great humor, grit, wisdom, and compassion."
-- Anne Raeff, author of Winter Kept Us Warm and Only The River

"[The] love-hate relationship with Milwaukee is the foundation of Zhanna Slor's April 2021 debut novel At The End Of The World, Turn Left. Slor's novel is a combination of a mystery and self-exploration novel. It centers on the lives of two sisters who have both immigrated from the former USSR but have different approaches to what they define as home."
-- Milwaukee Independent

"Zhanna Slor has written a stellar debut novel of literary suspense which is also an engrossing coming-of-age story focusing on two sisters who emigrated as children from Ukraine to Milwaukee. Slor insightfully examines their experiences as young women who must confront the contradictions they find in themselves, in America, and in their parents, who both want their daughters to live as they are told to rather than find their own way in the world. This is a debut of many felicities, much heart, and more than a few comic moments. It was a true pleasure to read."
-- Christine Sneed, author of Little Known Facts and Paris, He Said

"A story about young men and women dealing with the challenges of life and making decisions, not always the best decisions and dealing with family and sometimes the ache of lost culture associations."
-- Riverwest Currents

"At the End of the World, Turn Left is an exploration of immigrant and Jewish identity."
-- Shepherd Express

About the Author

Zhanna Slor was born in Ukraine and moved to the Midwest in the early 1990s. Her debut novel, At the End of the World, Turn Left, was called "elegant and authentic" by NPR and named by Booklist as one of the "Top Ten Crime Debuts" of 2021. Her second novel, Breakfall, a domestic thriller surrounding a mysterious death at a close-knit Jiu Jitsu gym, was released in 2023. She currently lives in Milwaukee and works as a TV critic and staff writer for TV Guide.