When the English Fall

April 24, 2017
Williams’s satisfying postapocalyptic novel shows the complex interlacing of Amish and “English” (non-Amish) life. Jacob, an Amish father, lives in a small Pennsylvania district with his wife and two teen children. His daughter, Sadie, has preternatural abilities to foresee the future, a curious note in an otherwise very realistic story. In a journal, Jacob recounts the immediate effects of a massive solar storm that wipes out all electronics. Over two and a half months, the community is called to provide for the cities that were less prepared for the loss of modern life, and increasingly desperate outsiders begin to threaten them, driven to violence by need. This new world tests the Amish injunction to peacefully sacrifice. The diary format means the scientific details of the storm’s effects are vague and the most horrifying events are only rumored; this increases tension and keeps the narrative from becoming as dehumanizing or shockingly violent as other tales of the end of the world. The unique spin draws readers into an alarmingly plausible story of contemporary civilization’s demise. Agent: Kathleen Davis Niendorff, Kathleen Davis Niendorff Literary.

In a series of diary entries, an Amish farmer named Jacob recounts his family's experience after a solar storm causes electronics all over the world to fail. Eric Michael Summerer's understated, formal narration is an excellent fit for Jacob, whose diary has an old-fashioned tone. As life for the non-Amish (the titular "English") becomes increasingly desperate, their lives begin to intersect more with the Amish community. Summerer smoothly transitions into a more contemporary speaking style for Jacob's English friend, Mike, and his wife. Although the threat of violence is real and omnipresent, Jacob accepts his changing circumstances as God's will. Summerer's steady performance clearly portrays a man who is secure in his faith--an apt performance for this unique take on the apocalypse. E.C. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine