The Raising: A Novel

“Kasischke’s writing does what good poetry does—it shows us an alternate world and lulls us into living in it . . . The language catapults us into another plane of existence, one of facade and reflection.”  —New York Times Book Review “Haunting, unsettling, and unforgettable, The Raising limns love, longing, belonging and the things we only think we know about life—and yes, death.” —Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of YouFrom Laura Kasischke, the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of In a Perfect World and The Life Before Her Eyes, comes a hypnotic mystery about one girl’s  tragic death and the fallout that occurs on her closely-knit college campus. Part Stephen King, part Donna Tartt, and wholly  unforgettable , Kasischke’s The Raising sets a new standard for hair-raising literary suspense.

From Publishers Weekly

Kasischke (In a Perfect World) delivers a satisfying if predictable campus novel that's both gothic romance and coming-of-age tale. A year after sorority girl Nicole Werner died in a car accident, Nicole's boyfriend, Craig Clements-Rabbitt, who was driving, is trying to put his life together. When snobbish sophisticate Craig had arrived from New Hampshire at Godwin Honors Hall—a selective college within a huge Midwestern university—he soon got on the nerves of his more down-to-earth roommate, Perry Edwards, and Perry's childhood schoolmate, the beautiful Nicole. Now, Craig is a sober soul, but Nicole's former sorority sisters are unwilling to let her "murderer" be. Meanwhile, Shelly Lockes, the first witness at the accident scene, is hounded out of town, and Mira Polson, a professor of anthropology who looks too closely at Nicole's death, is forced to resign. Students commit suicide or are "accidentally" shot dead. If the narrative is convoluted, so is the diabolical, if improbable, scheme hatched by the sisters of Omega Theta Tau. Big Sister, apparently, watches over us all. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Set in and around the campus of a fictional midwestern university, Kasischke’s eighth novel centers on a tragic car accident that has taken the life of beautiful, straight-A student Nicole. A year later, her sorority sisters are still up in arms and lay the blame for Nicole’s death on her boyfriend, Craig, who, they claim, is an irresponsible rich kid. But Craig’s roommate, Philip, who grew up with Nicole, has begun to think that she is not really dead and approaches his sociology professor, who is teaching a class on death, for help. Meanwhile, a witness to the accident has given up trying to straighten out the many erroneous newspaper accounts stating that Nicole was found covered in blood, for the girl she saw was not bleeding and not dead. Kasischke excels at depicting the psychology of the young and the traumatized even as she delivers a scathing indictment of the siege mentality of college administrators. In this literary page-turner, reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s Secret History (1992), the talented author inlays her academic novel with a touch of the supernatural and a deep sense of foreboding. --Joanne Wilkinson

then is skillfully transformed into a thoroughly modern ghost story. Each character is haunted by the memories and repercussions of that night. Lyrical, layered and riveting to the final page.”

“Dark, disquieting...starts off as a tragic love story―beautiful sorority girl killed in a car accident

Marie Claire (UK)

“An atmospheric shiver-fest . . . [a] devious, claustrophobic chiller.”

Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You

“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, it’s a literary mystery that’s as hypnotic as it is brilliant.”

Fay Weldon, author of Kehua

“A fine writer, a haunted and haunting tale, a flurry of beautiful girls -- you don’t put this book down once you’ve picked it up.”

Nylon Magazine

“Scary, spooky, sexy... we couldn’t put it down.”

Amy MacKinnon, author of Tethered

“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.”

Booklist

“[A] literary page-turner reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s Secret History.”

Chicago Tribune

“The Grapes of Wrath” had been rewritten by H.P. Lovecraft.”

New York Times Book Review

“Bacchae.”

Grand Rapids Press

“Nothing is as it first appears in Laura Kasischke’s suspense novel THE RAISING...Just when readers think they’ve got it all figured out, there’s another twist that spins them off in another direction...The kind of story readers won’t soon forget.”

From the Back Cover

Last year Godwin Honors Hall was draped in black. The university was mourningthe loss of one of its own: Nicole Werner, a blond, beautiful, straight-A sororitysister tragically killed in a car accident that left her boyfriend, who was driving,remarkably—some say suspiciously—unscathed. Although a year has passed, as winter begins and the nights darken, obsession withNicole and her death reignites: She was so pretty. So sweet-tempered. So innocent. Tooyoung to die.Unless she didn’t.Because rumor has it that she’s back.

About the Author

Laura Kasischke teaches in the MFA program at the University of Michigan. A winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry, she has published eight collections of poetry and ten novels, three of which have been made into films, including The Life Before Her Eyes.

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