Welcome to the world, new novel!
Take a look at that gorgeous cover of my brand-new novel, will you? The birds, the darkness, the light, the shadowy young woman wondering what has happened to her. . . it’s as if the cover artist was living inside my own heart when she designed it.
Described as “book club gold” by early readers, The Opposite of Fate is the story of twenty-one-year old Mallie, living a life filled with love and purpose, who is assaulted and left for dead. After many months in a coma-like state, Mallie awakens to find herself, and the world around her, changed in profound ways.
What happened to her? Why are the people she most loves either absent or unwilling to tell her the truth? How do you make sense of your life when so much has happened to you at the decree of other people, people who don’t even know you?
The Opposite of Fate will be published in trade paperback (beautifully designed and affordable!) by the wonderful people at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on February 18, 2020.
“Alison McGhee’s The Opposite of Fate is, like everything she writes, as close to poetry as prose gets, full of metaphor and imagery and lyrical repetition. I was driven to turn page after page to find out what would happen—Would Mallie reassemble her life? What would “the whole truth” look like when it was pieced back together?—but I also wanted to slow down and savor each beautiful sentence, each image. The Opposite of Fate is a story about stories: the ones we tell ourselves in order to bear the unbearable, solve the unsolvable, and live.”—Maggie Smith, author of Good Bones
“The Opposite of Fate dives deep into one of the more terrifying—and yet hopeful—questions of life. How do we choose when we don’t know the right answer? Alison McGhee is a fearless writer, full of love for humanity and a tender touch with words. You’ll love this book.” —Rene Denfeld, bestselling author of The Child Finder
“The Opposite of Fate is a story for our times, for many of us who are concerned about the future of our bodies, afraid for a return to a place and time when women had no say over our reproductive rights, our ability to make decisions for ourselves and our livelihoods. This is a powerful book about family, love, faith and the will to survive.” —Kao Kalia Yang, author of The Song Poet
“Mallie Williams wakes from a year-long nightmarish sleep like a princess in a fairy-tale; but in Alison McGhee’s novel, the princess takes control of her narrative and her future. The Opposite of Fate shows the ways in which imagination can sometimes save us. This is a powerful and beautiful book.” —Julie Schumacher, author of The Shakespeare Requirement
Pre-order links:
- From your local independent bookseller. (Support your indies!)
- From Amazon.
- From Barnes & Noble.
