The Solace Of Leaving Early Haven Kimmel by Haven Kimmel 9781400033348, 1400033349, B009IHQ32A instant download after payment.

Using small-town life as a springboard to explore the loftiest of ideas, Haven Kimmel’s irresistibly smart and generous first novel is at once a romance and a haunting meditation on grief and faith. 

“A wonderful debut... Vivid and hopeful, packed with astute allusions.”  -  San Francisco Chronicle

Langston Braverman returns to Haddington, Indiana after walking out on an academic career that has equipped her for little but lording it over other people. Amos Townsend is trying to minister to a congregation that would prefer simple affirmations to his esoteric brand of theology. 

What draws these difficult — if not impossible — people together are two wounded little girls who call themselves Immaculata and Epiphany. They are the daughters of Langston’s childhood friend and the witnesses to her murder. And their need for love is so urgent that neither Langston nor Amos can resist it, though they do their best to resist each other. 

"There must have been a time when John Updike had only just begun, a time when Carol Shields wasn't known much outside Ottawa. And there must have been some readers then who got to experience the bliss of knowing that they would witness the trajectory of these writers' careers. Hear me this: Haven Kimmel is a reason for great happiness."  -  The Orlando Sentinel

Deftly walking the tightrope between tragedy and comedy, The Solace Of Leaving Early is a joyous story about finding one’s better self by accepting the shortcomings of others.