What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of
us simply vanished? Would some of us collapse? Would others
of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did
before the world turned upside down?
That’s what the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost
many of their neighbors, friends and lovers in the event
known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out. Because
nothing has been the same since it happened—not marriages,
not friendships, not even the relationships between parents
and children.
Kevin Garvey, Mapleton’s new mayor, wants to speed up the
healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and
purpose to his traumatized community. Kevin’s own family has
fallen apart in the wake of the disaster: his wife, Laurie,
has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose
members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too,
dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named
Holy Wayne. Only Kevin’s teenaged daughter, Jill, remains,
and she’s definitely not the sweet “A” student she used to
be. Kevin wants to help her, but he’s distracted by his
growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her
entire family on October 14th and is still reeling from the
tragedy, even as she struggles to move beyond it and make a
new start.
With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate
the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta has
written a startling, thought-provoking novel about love,
connection and loss.