
What is Going to Happen Next
978-1-988732-06-0 | 344 Pages September, 2017 Accolades!, Ebook, FictionAlso available as an ebook from
About this book
- Winner of the Book Design Award at the 2018 Alberta Book Publishing Awards!
Karen Hofmann’s empathetic and cathartic novel, What is Going to Happen Next, pieces together the lives of five members of the Lund family following their enforced dispersal after the death of the father and the hospitalization of the mother in the remote West Coast community of Butterfly Lake. It explores their self-doubts and aspirations in the ways they cope with their separation and reunion through their work and personal relationships, and reveals the ways in which their past is filtered through memory and desire. It also skillfully exposes a Vancouver class system from the perspectives of diverse socio-economic conditions and lifestyles.
What is Going to Happen Next is character-driven and well-wrought, with a tenderness that propels the reader forward alongside the Lunds who are learning to fuse together as a chosen family.
Reviews
"An incisive and deeply satisfying novel about the muscle memory of
the human heart."
“Karen Hofmann’s What is Going to Happen Next is not another gloomy Can-Lit family saga but a familiar portrait of our neighbours and friends—maybe of ourselves—weathering the effects of far distant adversity with the same halting, human grace we all share.”
“A compassionate and insightful novel about siblings and the bonds they forge. Hofmann interweaves their stories with assurance, rich detail, and heart.”
"It’s a novel that’s as original as it is ambitious, and it works, resulting in an all-engrossing visceral reading experience, and I’m recommending it to everyone." full review
"The characters as so unique from one another, each with a distinct voice and personality.... I would highly recommend this wonderful piece of Canadian fiction." full review
"To say that this novel is a delight is an understatement. The characters live and breathe."
"As a family saga, the novel is empathetic, compassionate, and expertly paced." full review