The End

Distant events have thrown us into long, comet-like orbits, far from our origins, but eventually we will circle back on people whose lives preceded and gave rise to our own. We may recognise them immediately. Or else we may meet a stranger for the first time, and while shaking his hand feel vividly that an ancient obligation has finally been kept. A small, incongruous man receives a devastating letter: his son has died in a POW camp in Korea. It is August 15,...
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Distant events have thrown us into long, comet-like orbits, far from our origins, but eventually we will circle back on people whose lives preceded and gave rise to our own. We may recognise them immediately. Or else we may meet a stranger for the first time, and while shaking his hand feel vividly that an ancient obligation has finally been kept.

A small, incongruous man receives a devastating letter: his son has died in a POW camp in Korea. It is August 15, 1953, the day of a tumultuous street carnival in Elephant Park, and Italian immigrant enclave in Ohio. The man is Rocco LaGrassa, and his many years of dogged toil, paternal devotion and steadfast Christian faith are about to come to a crashing end. He is the first of many exquisitely drawn characters we meet that day, each of whom will come to their own conclusion.

The End follows an elderly abortionist, an enigmatic drapery seamstress, a teenage boy and a jeweller deep into the heart of a crime that will twist all of their lives. Against a background of immigration, broken loyalties and racial hostility, we at last return to August 15, 1953 and see everything Rocco saw - and vastly more - through the eyes of various people in the crowds.

The End marks the unforgettable debut from a singular new American novelist.