Last Things - Hardcover

"A beautiful debut novel, a gently funny tragedy about childhood and madness . . . pokes at the boundaries between reason and imagination." --Newsday "Jenny Offill . . . has created a fantastical family, at times loving and sweet, sorrowful and dangerous. The prose, though told through the eyes of Grace, is sparse, elegant, and inviting." --The Boston Globe "Offill's deceptively simple prose, her exquisite sense of metaphor and her ear for humor capture the subtle perceptions of this wise child so that we feel to the bone her burgeoning awareness."--Chicago Tribune "[A] gem of a first novel." --Los Angeles Times Book Review "Offill's dialogue and quirky details are truly delightful."--Baltimore Sun

This novel explores the tension between a father who is a rationalist and his wife Anna, an ornithologist, who is convinced of the existence of monsters. Their opposing ideas lead them towards breakdown and a form of madness.