"A masterly retelling of those dozen capricious, war torn, love soaked and chaotic years between the Beatles first LP and the fall of Saigon ... all the more remarkable for being Hannah Kohler's fiction debut." Jim Crace, award-winning author of Harvest
"Utterly enthralling and brilliantly drawn ... Hannah Kohler is a remarkable talent." Emma Chapman, author of How To Be A Good Wife
Jeannie is nineteen when the world changes, Kip only fourteen. The sudden accident that robs them of their mother leaves them adrift, with only their father to guide them. Jeannie seeks escape in work and later marriage to a man whose social connections propel her into an unfamiliar world of wealth and politics. Ill-equipped and unprepared, Jeannie finds comfort where she can. Meanwhile Kip's descent into a life of petty crime is halted only when he volunteers for the Marines.
By 1968, the conflict in Vietnam is at its height, and with the anti-war movement raging at home, Jeannie and Kip are swept along by events larger than themselves, driven by disillusionment to commit unforgiveable acts of betrayal that will leave permanent scars.
The Outside Lands is the story of people caught in the slipstream of history, how we struggle in the face of loss to build our world, and how easily and with sudden violence it can be swept away. With extraordinary skill and accuracy, Hannah Kohler takes us from 1960s California to Vietnam, capturing what it means to live through historic times. This powerful debut novel announces Kohler as a remarkable new literary talent.
PRAISE FOR HANNAH KOHLER
"Hannah Kohler isn't the first author to explore the cost of war, but she does so with remarkable emotional intelligence in this compelling account . . . This is a gripping book about war." Sunday Times
"In this Vietnam-era story, a California family is imploded first by private tragedy, then by the war itself. Yet the author is a Brit writing about a time before she was born. You'd never know it. Her ear for American dialogue is flawless, her historical details spot on. The quality of the writing, too, is astonishing. I wasn't exactly in the mood to re-enter the 1960s of my youth, but Kohler won me over. Should you feel a similar resistance to this oft-visited subject matter, get over it." Lionel Shriver Financial Times