Though the Earth Gives Way: A Novel

Review “With his brilliant fiction debut, THOUGH THE EARTH GIVES WAY, Mark S. Johnson has delivered a masterpiece. Beautifully written, with unforgettable settings and characters, this post-apocalyptic tale is a warning that disaster of unimaginable magnitude awaits us if we do not act urgently to mitigate the effects of man-made climate change… And yet, as grim as America has become in this not-too-distant future, THOUGH THE EARTH GIVES WAY is also a story about friendship and family, the power of memory, the fear and allure of the future, and, yes, even the hope that might be found in a living hell. Johnson, formerly a Providence Journal staff writer, is a health and science reporter for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He shared the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting and has been a Pulitzer finalist three times. His science expertise shows in THOUGH THE EARTH GIVES WAY, but it does not drive the narrative. Storytelling, at the level of Stephen King and Cormac McCarthy, other masters of dystopian fiction, does… Johnson’s command of voice in these separate stories is magnificent, with each character’s tale fitting what we learned of them before their tellings ― and going beyond, deepening our understanding of each of them, and of humanity in general.” -- PROVIDENCE JOURNAL“A bitter-sweet tale of our self-made apocalypse, Mark S. Johnson's Though the Earth Gives Way forces the reader to see and to live a near future we steadfastly refuse to acknowledge. That his wrenching story is so beautifully told makes it both hard to put down and impossible to deny. For anyone who cares about the future of our common earth―and about powerful writing―this is an essential book.” -- MARK DANNER, AUTHOR, SPIRAL: TRAPPED IN THE FOREVER WAR“THOUGH THE EARTH GIVES WAY is a dystopian parable for our times, challenging readers to ponder their own relationship with the imminent crisis facing us. of climate change. Using a classical framing narrative, intersecting tales ask the hard questions of how humanity has so far failed our children and the generations to follow.” "Mark S. Johnson takes us on an apocalyptic journey of our own mapping. With every new character introduced in Though the Earth Gives Way, I found myself turning back to see a new face of the devastation we’ve visited on Earth. By the end of the book, I was facing myself to ask what I could do to keep the future from being that past." -- JACQUI BANASZYNSKI, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING REPORTERMark Johnson, in THOUGH THE EARTH GIVES WAY, shows himself to be a masterful story teller, communicating on many different levels simultaneously. I found myself frequently folding back pages and underlining quotes, for later reference … the sign of a really good book. Using his gift of weaving together the ordinary story, with the backdrop of the much larger story of our impending climate catastrophe, he manages to bring the urgency of the moment forward to the here and now, by offering a glimpse into a possible future. As one who is knee deep in climate change mitigation, the broader story held together, and kept me engaged to the end. Great book!” -- KEN LEINBACH, AUTHOR OF URBAN ECOLOGY: A NATURAL WAY TO TRANSFORM, KIDS, PARKS, CITIES AND THE WORLD"Chilling yet irresistibly readable, Though the Earth Gives Way is a cautionary tale of a post-apocalyptic world that resonates powerfully today." -- JOANNE LIPMAN, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID“This is not just a novel about surviving an apocalypse―it’s a book with a cause. It might just spur you to rethink your role on this planet.” -- Adam Grant, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of THINK AGAIN Product Description Mark Johnson tells a timeless tale of the struggle to find truth in belief, faith in fact, and friendship in times of fear. It is a new survival story, one that takes place post-climate apocalypse where our main character, Elon, thirty-seven, alone, hungry, and desperate to hear just another voice, i

Publisher:

Bancroft Press

Pages:

260

Date Published:

2022-01-11