At the End of the World

Nadia Mikail. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, $19.99 (192p) ISBN 978-1-250-86809-1

Four months ago, teenage Aisha— along with the rest of the world—found out that an asteroid is projected to destroy Earth in less than a year. For the past two years, Aisha has lived alone with her mother in Penang, Malaysia, ever since Aisha’s father died and her sister June walked out on them; realizing they have limited time left, Aisha and her mother resolve to find June. Aisha asks her boyfriend and his family to come along, and the group travel together across the country to Melaka with a stray cat named Fleabag. Aisha’s despair over her search for June and the oncoming end of the world manifests in increasing anger and irritability, and Walter’s seemingly relentlessly positive attitude causes a rift between the teens. The trip provides the families with opportunities to reflect on their lives, strengthen their bonds, admit their most private thoughts, and process their grief. Though revealing flashbacks interwoven throughout occasionally disrupt narrative flow, they also offer vibrant and emotionally raw looks into the protagonists’ relationship with loss, the past, and each other. Using poetic prose, debut author Mikail highlights the power of hope and reconciliation amid impending devastation and dread. Ages 13–up. (Oct.) affected by the blight. Complicating matters are personal issues with friends and old flames, as well as her grandparents’ tight-lipped refusal to divulge the family’s past. Alternating POVs of Susana in the present day and Suzanna from 1850 onward examine the parallels of each protagonist’s life and offer thoughtful, if occasionally overwrought, introspection. Sumptuous, dark details increase the creeping atmosphere of this judiciously rendered psychological exploration of blame, healing, and trauma. Suzanna is of Muscogee Indian Nation descent.

Ages 13–up. (Oct.)