The Beginners - by Rebecca Wolff (Paperback)

About the Book

The chilling, hypnotically beautiful story of a girl whose coming of age is darkened by the secret history of her small New England town. OChilling, exquisitely wrought debut . . ." --"Marie Claire."

Book Synopsis

Theo and Raquel Motherwell are the only newcomers to the sleepy town of Wick in fifteen-year-old Ginger Pritt's memory. Hampered by a lingering innocence while her best friend, Cherry, grows more and more embroiled with boys, Ginger is instantly attracted to the worldliness of this dashing couple. But as Ginger's keen imagination takes up the seductive mystery of their past, she is only left with more questions. Who--or what--exactly, are the Motherwells? And what is it they want with her? Both a lyrical coming-of-age story and a spine-tingling tale of ghostly menace, The Beginners introduces Rebecca Wolff as an exciting new talent in fiction.

Review Quotes

"A meticulous and pitch-perfect fever dream of adolescence, reminiscent of Shirley Jackson remixed by Mary Gaitskill."
-Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude and Chronic City

"Original, electric, and fearless . . . Every page of The Beginners shimmers with the intensity of language shaped around, aimed at, what can't be said or explained within the convention of a haunted New England town and its teenage antiheroine."
-Kate Christensen, author of The Great Man and Trouble

"What a marvel, what a wonder, is this novel. It made me think of Rilke in collaboration with Emily Brontë. . . . Ravishing."
-Peter Straub, author of Shadowland and A Dark Matter

About the Author

Rebecca Wolff is an award-winning poet and the founding editor of Fence and Fence Books. She received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and is the author of three books of poems. She has published in The Nation, The Paris Review, and A Public Space. Wolff lives in Athens, New York.