A darkly witty and sharply questioning debut which will take you on an emotional journey set during the destructive aftermath of the Rapture. Portraying a chilling vision of a contemporary USA where the sinister Church of America is destroying lives....this puts the cult back into cult fiction... Katie Coyle's Vivian versus the Apocalypse is pure futuristic YA fiction, coupling a poignant story with sharply funny moments.
Vivian versus the Apocalypse was joint winner of the inaugural 2012 Guardian/Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize, a prize set up for writers aged between 18 and 25. The other winner was The Rig by Joe Ducie.
Our cynical protagonist, sixteen-year-old Vivian Apple, is awaiting the fated 'Rapture' - or rather the lack of it. Her evangelical parents have been in the Church's thrall for too long, and she's looking forward to getting them back. Except that when Vivian arrives home the day after the supposed 'Rapture', her parents are gone. All that is left are two holes in the ceiling...Viv is determined to carry on as normal, but when she starts to suspect that her parents might still be alive, she realises she must uncover the truth.
Joined by Peter, a boy claiming to know the real whereabouts of the Church, and Edie, a heavily pregnant Believer who has been 'left behind', they embark on a road trip across America. Encountering freak weather, roving 'Believer' gangs and a strange teenage group calling themselves the 'New Orphans', Viv soon begins to realise that the Rapture was just the beginning.
Katie Coyle grew up in a small suburban town in New Jersey. The first story she ever wrote was about a girl with a pet dolphin - eventually the dolphin turned into a dog, and the third-person narration unceremoniously switched over to first-person. The story was never finished. However, since then, she has spent countless hours dreaming up tales about the weird and wonderful things that happen to teenage girls.
She has an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh, and spends her free time buying books she doesn't need and crying at science-fiction television shows.
A darkly witty and sharply questioning debut which will take you on an emotional journey set during the destructive aftermath of the Rapture. Portraying a chilling vision of a contemporary USA where the sinister Church of America is destroying lives....this puts the cult back into cult fiction... Katie Coyle's Vivian versus the Apocalypse is pure futuristic YA fiction, coupling a poignant story with sharply funny moments.
