Somewhere Past the End
by Alexandria Faulkenbury
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Pub Date 20 May 2025 | Archive Date 31 May 2025
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Description
Alice Greene knows it's a hoax when the leader of the cult she's been raised in announces the end of the world. She also knows it's the perfect chance to escape before he finds out she's pregnant with the baby she's not supposed to have. But as she watches his prophecy come true and over 100 members of the group disappear into a plume of smoke and light, all her plans crumble.
Still reeling from the disappearance, Alice finds the other survivors and reconnects with her childhood best friend, Edwin. He's got a message from their vanished leader: He and Alice will shepherd the remaining members of the Collective. Certain she's the wrong person for the job, but terrified she'll lose the only family she has left, Alice struggles to find a way forward until she discovers the secrets and lies that built their community, including one that will change her friendship with Edwin forever.
Told in dual timelines, Somewhere Past the End offers a panoramic view of one family and how the repercussions of their choices muddy the lines between truth, belief, and delusion.
Advance Praise
"The book is ever compassionate and nonjudgmental toward those under the sway of cults...Why people stay in cults is considered with similar nuance and empathy...Intimate in portraying abuse, trauma, and motherhood, the narrative overflows with grief and loss."
-Foreword Reviews
"An urgent and beautiful story, told in braided timelines, of a mother and daughter, each fiercely loving and clear-eyed yet trapped by circumstances inside a cult controlled by a charismatic and dangerous leader. The genius of debut novelist Alexandria Faulkenbury is her ability to create a world that is both alluring and terrifying, and characters who are deeply dimensional and human. Somewhere Past the End is sure to hold you from the dark magic and mystery of its beginning passage to its spacious yet gratifying end. As for Teresa and Alice, they're yours now. They'll imbed themselves in your heart."
-Ona Gritz, award-winning author of Everywhere I Look
"Written with sureness and visceral emotion, Faulkenbury gives us a tense, close up view of the formation of a cult and one woman's courageous escape, all wrapped around a gripping mystery that will have you questioning what is real. Both a vivid page-turner, and a nuanced examination of human nature, Somewhere Past the End is a nourishing read. I highly recommend it."
-Sara Read, author of Johanna Porter is Not Sorry and Principles of (E)motion
"Faulkenbury's novel weaves together the stories of two women as they fall in and out of enthrallment with The Collective. Two questions drive the story: What is the Truth? and How did we end up like this? This novel explores the different ways that men control, how they prey on the vulnerable and keep them faithful. If you, like me, find yourself drawn to the stories cult members have to share, pull up a seat at Faulkenbury's Somewhere Past the End and get your fill."
-Shay Galloway, author, The Valley of Sage and Juniper
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9081627205610 |
| PRICE | US$21.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 272 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
louisa t, Reviewer
4+ 🌟
A book about a cult ??? I am definitely in!!
This was an interesting one, told over two timelines, so you could see why the young couple were drawn in, but also why that lifetime member might want to leave.
How the ideals have soured, and loyalties have been tested and often found wanting.
Fascinating how one man becomes leader without (much) question to all.
An excellent book that I'm going to be thinking about for a while.
Also, shootout to the Camerons, who were just the best.
Raven M, Reviewer
If you’re ever gone through a cult phase (iykyk) then you HAVE to read this book.
Somewhere Past The End is a story told in two timelines. We meet Alice having to deal with the aftermath of a mass disappearance of the fellow members of The Collective, the cult she was born into, while also getting the perspective of her mother in retrospect journal like entries.
The author shows compassion to both women who, like many, get stuck in the repetitive cycle of a cult. Both of our main characters are smart, thoughtful, and periodically aware of how absurd their reality is but they doubt themselves and stay stuck in the cycle.
Alice, our present tense narrator, tries to grapple with her new reality after 130 of her fellow Collective members suddenly disappear in the “Homegoing” .
Teresa, Alice’s mother, tells us of the struggles that led her to Brother Richmond and The Collective in the first place and the way everything changed for the worse as the years went by.
Written with compassion and in a way that makes both women feel real and understandable while still writing frustrating moments where you just want to shake them, I found this novel incredibly compelling and beautifully written!
Would absolutely recommend!
Stella G, Reviewer
Brother Richard and over 100 members of the Collective all disappear in an instant. It's the Homegoing that he's been talking about for years. Alice Greene watches as her mother, father and husband vanish in a beam of light.
Alice, who is pregnant with a baby she wasn't supposed to have, quickly learns she's not the only one left behind. Among the remaining is Edwin, Alice's best friend. When Edwin leads the remaining members as instructed by a letter and video left behind from Brother Richard, Alice's plans to escape the Collective are squashed. When she discovers a journal left behind by her mother, Alice learns that everything is not as she was told, and she must escape before it's too late.
---
Another cult book...my favorite. Brother Richard is exactly who you think a cult leader would be: Charles Manson minus the murders. Alice, as a character, was smart and someone it was easy to root for.
I DO wish there was some explanation about the disappearance, but also, it's nice not knowing. Sometimes the mystery is better left unsolved.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Tracy S, Librarian
This is a good read and quite insightful into the complex world of a cult
Alice is a great character and although she knows things are not quite right she is drawn into the people and their beliefs.
It is told in two lines but 20 years apart so we get to see the befores and afters. Alices life is turning out to be the parrallel of her mothers and to break this cycle she has to leave.
This is a unique and intriguing read and I was really eager to see how it would end..
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