Marie Claire, A Best New Book Out In August
“A poignant novel about wilderness, isolation, and survival for those who grew up on Island of the Blue Dolphins and graduated to Ling Ma’s Severance.” —Sophia June, Marie Claire
“Mesmerizing . . . From spirits to foraging to shipwrecks, Rock creates a compelling world waiting to be explored.” —Alta
“In this lyrical apocalyptic novel, three sisters leave their home where they believe to be the only survivors to discover a wider—and increasingly dangerous—world. Makeshift is beguiling and mysterious, a dystopic puzzle box wrapped intricately with incredible tenderness and love for its three young characters. Come for Peter Rock’s intoxicating language and stay for this beautiful tale of sisterhood and hope in the face of destruction.” —Michael Welch, Chicago Review of Books
“A haunting story of family, survival, and change . . . Quiet and thought-provoking with occasional bouts of peril that will appeal to readers of dystopian realism with compelling characters facing life altering challenges.” —Booklist
“A haunting tale of hope and survival set on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest . . . A touching story of faith and trust and of young lives braving the unknown.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Peter Rock is one of my favorite writers and I loved reading Makeshift, a gorgeously written, terrifying, and tender foray into the heart of what it means to be in relationship to one another, and to our world which is not over, which is still home.” —Karen Russell
“In Peter Rock’s haunting and eerie eleventh novel, young Ari narrates a story of finding and making family after everything has gone wrong. Or have things gone wrong? Rock’s glorious evocation of the natural world yearns for a time before, or in this case, after modern civilization—here, wreck-diving cormorants and trees responding to the north-western breezes serve as a Greek chorus for a world slaked of human intervention. Lyrical and poignant, Makeshift proves a powerful antidote to the modern world by tracing its landscape’s roots. This must-read novel lures the reader in, not unlike the coastal wrecks that line the island of Makeshift.” —Adam Johnson, author of The Wayfinder