who disguised herself as a housekeeper,

won over the boy’s sister and

mother, seduced his father, and threatened

the boy if he told anyone the truth.

but defeating this evil demanded a sacrifice

he was not prepared for

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE [STARRED REVIEW!]

Author: Neil Gaiman



Publisher:Morrow/HarperCollins

Pages: 192

Price ( Hardcover ): $25.99

Publication Date: June 18, 2013

ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-0-06-225565-5

Category: Fiction



From one of the great masters of modern speculative fiction: Gaiman’s first novel for adults since Anansi Boys (2005).

An unnamed protagonist and narrator returns to his Sussex roots to attend a funeral. Although his boyhood dwelling no longer stands, at the end of the road lies the Hempstock farm, to which he’s drawn without knowing why. Memories begin to flow. The Hempstocks were an odd family, with 11-year-old Lettie’s claim that their duckpond was an ocean , her mother’s miraculous cooking and her grandmother’s reminiscences of the Big Bang; all three seemed much older than their apparent ages. Forty years ago, the family lodger, a South African opal miner, gambled his fortune away, then committed suicide in the Hempstock farmyard. Something dark, deadly and far distant heard his dying lament and swooped closer. As the past becomes the present, Lettie takes the boy’s hand and confidently sets off through unearthly landscapes to deal with the menace; but he’s only 7 years old, and he makes a mistake... Instead of banishing the predator, he brings it back into the familiar world, where it reappears as his family’s new housekeeper, the demonic Ursula Monkton. Terrified, he tries to flee back to the Hempstocks, but Ursula easily keeps him confined as she cruelly manipulates and torments his parents and sister. Despite his determination and well-developed sense of right and wrong, he’s also a scared little boy drawn into adventures beyond his understanding, forced into terrible mistakes through innocence. Yet, guided by a female wisdom beyond his ability to comprehend, he may one day find redemption. Poignant and heartbreaking, eloquent and frightening, impeccably rendered, it’s a fable that reminds us how our lives are shaped by childhood experiences, what we gain from them and the price we pay.















The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Anansi Boys(2005), the never-named fiftyish narrator is back in his childhood homeland, rural Sussex, England, where he’s just delivered the eulogy at a funeral. With “an hour or so to kill” afterward, he drives about—aimlessly, he thinks—until he’s at the crucible of his consciousness: a farmhouse with a duck pond. There, when he was seven, lived the Hempstocks, a crone, a housewife, and an 11-year-old girl, who said they were grandmother, mother, and daughter. Now, he finds the crone and, eventually, the housewife—the same ones, unchanged—while the girl is still gone, just as she was at the end of the childhood adventure he recalls in a reverie that lasts all afternoon. He remembers how he became the vector for a malign force attempting to invade and waste our world. The three Hempstocks are guardians, from time almost immemorial, situated to block such forces and, should that fail, fight them. Gaiman mines mythological typology—the three-fold goddess, the water of life (the pond, actually an ocean)—and his own childhood milieu to build the cosmology and the theater of a story he tells more gracefully than any he’s told since Stardust(1999). And don’t worry about that “for adults” designation: it’s a matter of tone. This lovely yarn is good for anyone who can read it. In Gaiman’s first novel for adults since(2005), the never-named fiftyish narrator is back in his childhood homeland, rural Sussex, England, where he’s just delivered the eulogy at a funeral. With “an hour or so to kill” afterward, he drives about—aimlessly, he thinks—until he’s at the crucible of his consciousness: a farmhouse with a duck pond. There, when he was seven, lived the Hempstocks, a crone, a housewife, and an 11-year-old girl, who said they were grandmother, mother, and daughter. Now, he finds the crone and, eventually, the housewife—the same ones, unchanged—while the girl is still gone, just as she was at the end of the childhood adventure he recalls in a reverie that lasts all afternoon. He remembers how he became the vector for a malign force attempting to invade and waste our world. The three Hempstocks are guardians, from time almost immemorial, situated to block such forces and, should that fail, fight them. Gaiman mines mythological typology—the three-fold goddess, the water of life (the pond, actually an ocean)—and his own childhood milieu to build the cosmology and the theater of a story he tells more gracefully than any he’s told since(1999). And don’t worry about that “for adults” designation: it’s a matter of tone. This lovely yarn is good for anyone who can read it.





HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: That this is the popular author’s first book for adults in eight years pretty much sums up why this will be in demand.





































Neil Gaiman/OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE/Full Ticket Info Events





Tuesday, June 18/BROOKLYN, NY

Greenlight Bookstore w/ Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) @ Howard Gilman Opera House

7:00 PM

30 Lafayette Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11217





Twitter:

@greenlightbklyn

Facebook:

Website:





Wednesday, June 19/NEW YORK, NY

Symphony Space “Thalia Book Club Series”

7:00 PM

th Street) 2537 Broadway (@ 95Street)

New York, NY 10025





Box Office: 212-864-5400

Twitter:

@SymphonySpace

@SelectedShorts

Facebook:

Website:





Thursday, June 20/SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY

Northshire Bookstore Saratoga @ Saratoga City Center

6:00 PM

522 Broadway

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866





Box Office: Tickets will be sold on the store’s website, or in the VT store (4869 Main Street Manchester Center, VT 05255)

Twitter: @NorthshireBooks





Friday, June 21/WASHINGTON, DC

Politics & Prose Bookstore @ George Washington University Lisner Auditorium

6:00 PM

st Street, NW 730 21Street, NW

Washington, DC 20052





Twitter: @Politics_Prose





Saturday, June 22/DECATUR, GA

Eagle Eye Book Shop @ Agnes Scott College Presser Hall

7:00 PM

141 East College Avenue

Decatur, GA 30030





Twitter: @eagleeyebooks





Sunday, June 23/CORAL GABLES, FL

Books & Books @ Temple Judea

2:00 PM

5500 Granada Boulevard

Coral Gables, FL 33146





Twitter: @booksandbooks

Instagram: Booksandbooks





Monday, June 24/DALLAS, TX

Dallas Museum of Art @ Majestic Theatre

7:00 PM

1925 Elm Street

Dallas, TX 75201





Box Office: 214-922-1818 or visit tickets.dma.org

Twitter: @DallasMuseumArt

























Tuesday, June 25/DENVER, CO

Tattered Cover Book Store (LoDo)

6:00 PM

th Street 1628 16Street

Denver, CO 80202





Twitter: @tatteredcover





Wednesday, June 26/PHOENIX, AZ

Changing Hands Bookstore @ South Mountain High School Auditorium

6:00 PM

th Street 5401 South 7Street

Phoenix, AZ 85040





Twitter: @changinghands





Thursday, June 27/LOS ANGELES, CA

Live Talks Los Angeles w/ Barnes & Noble @ Alex Theatre

8:00 PM

216 North Brand Boulevard

Glendale, CA 91203





Twitter: @livetalksla





Friday, June 28/SAN FRANCISCO, CA

The Booksmith @ American Conservatory Theater (ACT) Geary Theater

7:00 PM

415 Geary Street

San Francisco, CA 94102





























Saturday, June 29/PORTLAND, OR

Powell’s Books @ Crystal Ballroom

3:00 PM

1332 West Burnside Street

Portland, OR 97209





Twitter: @Powells





Tuesday, July 2/SEATTLE, WA

University Book Store w/ Clarion West Writers Workshop @ Town Hall Seattle

7:00 PM

th Avenue 1119 8Avenue

Seattle, WA 98101





Twitter:

@ubs_events

@ClarionWest

Facebook:

Website:





Saturday, July 6/SANTA ROSA, CA

Copperfield’s Books @ Santa Rosa Theater

8:00 PM

1235 Mendocino Avenue

Santa Rosa, CA 95401





Twitter: @Copperfields









































Sunday, July 7/ANN ARBOR, MI

Nicola’s Books @ Michigan Theater

6:00 PM

603 East Liberty Street

Ann Arbor, MI 48104









Monday, July 8/BLOOMINGTON, MN

Barnes & Noble of Edina @ Jefferson High School Auditorium

6:00 PM

nd Street 4001 West 102Street

Bloomington, MN 55437









Tuesday, July 9/CHICAGO, IL

Unabridged Bookstore @ Music Box Theater

7:00 PM

3733 North Southport Avenue

Chicago, IL 60613





Twitter: @unabridgedbooks





Wednesday, July 10/NASHVILLE, TN

Parnassus Books @ Tennessee Performing Arts Council’s War Memorial Auditorium

6:00 PM

th Avenue North 301 6Avenue North

Nashville, TN 37243





Twitter: @parnassusbooks1

























Thursday, July 11/LEXINGTON, KY

Joseph-Beth Booksellers @ Grand Reserve Events Center

7:00 PM

903 Manchester Street

Lexington, KY 40508





Tickets: purchase at Joseph-Beth Lexington 800 248 6849 or 859 273 2911

Twitter: @josephbethlex





Saturday, July 13/CAMBRIDGE, MA

Porter Square Books @ First Parish Church

6:30 PM

1446 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, MA 02138













Starred reviews, in the journals that publish reviews before books come out, are good.just gave THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE a starred review. It's a bit Spoilery, so I'm going to put a few sections of it white-on-white. Block to read.★ The Ocean at the End of theLaneNeil Gaiman.William Morrow,$25.99 (192p)ISBN 978-0-06-225565-5“Childhood memories are sometimescovered and obscured beneath the thingsthat come later... but they are never lostfor good”—and the most grim of thosememories, no matter how faint, can hauntone forever, as they do the anonymousnarrator of Gaiman’s subtle and splendidmodern myth. The protagonist, an artist,returns to his childhood home in theEnglish countryside to recover his memory ofevents that nearly destroyed him andhis family when he was seven. The suicideof a stranger opened the way for a deadlyspirit...Hehad allies—a warm and welcoming familyof witches at the old farm up the road.... Gaiman(Anansi Boys) has crafted a fresh story ofmagic, humanity, loyalty, and memories“waiting at the edges of things,” wherelost innocence can still be restored as longas someone is willing to bear the cost.The Kirkus review , also starred, said (spoilery bit also whited out):Those are the reviews we've got so far. I think it's probably my best book, which is why I am very nervous about it, which is why I really want to do whatever I can to make sure that as many people as possible read it.The William Morrow press office just sent me the dates and locations of the OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE tour.This may be modified slightly as we go -- I'll add any additional information (there's nothing on ticket prices here, for example -- most stores will count your ticket cost toward the cost of the book.)The current plan is that I'll sign any copies of The Ocean at the End of the Lane for you, and one or two other things, depending on lines and numbers. This may change.I'll also plan to sign as much as possible of what the bookstore has of mine when I get to each new shop, including many copies of OCEAN. So you can watch me read and do a Q&A and then take off if you do not want to wait.Many shops will have leftover signed books after the signing, or will take preorders for a book to be signed and sent out. I'll sign all the books that each store needs signed, but there's no guarantee that I'll be able to personalise phone/internet orders.And yes, this will be my last US book-signing tour. And I'm going to try and do as much as possible of it in a bus, mostly so I can get more sleep than I did on thetour.Feel very free to spread the information around. (UK & Canada & the rest of the world signing information is not in this post.)