The Raising

(, Main)

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Description

Last semester, Nicole Werner was killed in a car accident. A blonde and beautiful prom queen and straight-A student, Nicole was a prized sister in the most powerful sorority on campus. Now she's gone, and the college is in mourning. At the wheel that night was her boyrfiend Craig. He has no memory of the crash, but the entire student body blame him for Nicole's death. Haunted by guilt, he is also deeply disturbed by the reaction of his classmates. As winter sets in, and the nights darken, the everyday tragedy of Nicole's death turns into a gripping drama. The candelit vigils and rituals of remembrance become intense and fetishistic. A new class on the folklore of dying and the undead is hugely oversubscribed. Soon, students are reporting eerie sightings of Nicole's spirit in the crumbling college halls. Craig's roomate, Perry, doesn't believe in ghosts. A no-nonsense type who always thought Nicole was manipulative as she was charming, he refuses to be swept up by the hysteria. But then he experiences an unsettling night-time visitation of his own - and his curiosity is immediately aroused. Soon, Perry discovers that the local newspaper concealed crucial details about the crash. Clearly something strange is going on. But when he and his fellow sceptics join forces to unearth the past, powerful forces move to silence them

Reviews

Shows us an alternate world and lulls us into living in it * New York Times *
Hauntingly original... A tour de force * O, the Oprah Magazine *
Potent and poetic... Such is the agility of [Kasischke's] writing, it can encompass both a heinously nihilistic act and a most magical outcome * Elle Magazine *
Beautifully polished, evocative... gorgeous * Publishers Weekly *
From the first page of THE RAISING, Laura Kasischke tells a story of great weight and wicked beauty . . . Don't bother trying to put it down; it will call you back, and you'll go. Surrender. You'll be glad you did * Amy McKinnon, author of Tethered *
Haunting, unsettling, and unforgettable, THE RAISING limns love, longing, belonging and the things we only think we know about life--and yes, death. Told in knockout, shimmering prose... as hypnotic as it is brilliant * Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You *

Author Bio

Laura Kasischke was raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and attended the University of Michigan, where she now teaches in the MFA program and the Residential College. She has published seven collections of poetry, and eight novels. Her writing has won numerous awards, and two of her novels have been made into films, including The Life Before Her Eyes starring Uma Thurman. She lives with her family in Chelsea, Michigan.