Genre Fiction
![Kevin Wilson - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_kevin_wilson.jpg)
Now Is Not the Time to Panic: A Novel
A Most Anticipated Book of Fall from: Associated Press * Atlanta Journal-Constitution * Barnes & Noble * BookPage * Book Riot * The Boston Globe * Entertainment Weekly * Esquire * Garden & Gun * LitHub * St. Louis Post-Dispatch * Sunset Magazine * Time * Town & Country * The Millions * USA Today * Vogue * Vulture * The Week
An exuberant, bighearted novel about two teenage misfits who spectacularly collide one fateful summer, and the art they make that changes their lives forever
Sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge-aspiring writer, indifferent student, offbeat loner-is determined to make it through yet another summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, when she meets Zeke, a talented artist who has just moved into his grandmother's house and who is as awkward as Frankie is. Romantic and creative sparks begin to fly, and when the two jointly make an unsigned poster, shot through with an enigmatic phrase, it becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it. The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.
The posters begin appearing everywhere, and people wonder who is behind them and start to panic. Satanists, kidnappers-the rumors won't stop, and soon the mystery has dangerous repercussions that spread far beyond the town.
Twenty years later, Frances Eleanor Budge gets a call that threatens to upend her carefully built life: a journalist named Mazzy Brower is writing a story about the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Might Frances know something about that?
A bold coming-of-age story, written with Kevin Wilson's trademark wit and blazing prose, Now Is Not the Time to Panic is a nuanced exploration of young love, identity, and the power of art. It's also about the secrets that haunt us-and, ultimately, what the truth will set free.
An exuberant, bighearted novel about two teenage misfits who spectacularly collide one fateful summer, and the art they make that changes their lives forever
Sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge-aspiring writer, indifferent student, offbeat loner-is determined to make it through yet another summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, when she meets Zeke, a talented artist who has just moved into his grandmother's house and who is as awkward as Frankie is. Romantic and creative sparks begin to fly, and when the two jointly make an unsigned poster, shot through with an enigmatic phrase, it becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it. The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.
The posters begin appearing everywhere, and people wonder who is behind them and start to panic. Satanists, kidnappers-the rumors won't stop, and soon the mystery has dangerous repercussions that spread far beyond the town.
Twenty years later, Frances Eleanor Budge gets a call that threatens to upend her carefully built life: a journalist named Mazzy Brower is writing a story about the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Might Frances know something about that?
A bold coming-of-age story, written with Kevin Wilson's trademark wit and blazing prose, Now Is Not the Time to Panic is a nuanced exploration of young love, identity, and the power of art. It's also about the secrets that haunt us-and, ultimately, what the truth will set free.
Editorial Reviews
"This is a wildly funny, wonderfully sincere - and a little bit devastating - story of art, our limitless past, future nostalgia and all those perfectly imperfect ways we continually come of age. Kevin Wilson's books are so full of heart. They're utterly indelible." - Courtney Summers, Washington Post
"Wilson has developed a story that is a precise capture of adolescence and of two vibrant teens whose everyday dilemmas, weaknesses, and triumphs are utterly endearing . . . Crisp dialog and [a] zipping story line." - Booklist (starred review)
"Full of compassion and gentle humor, this is a wise and winning novel about how youth haunts and defines us." - Esquire
"It's the kind of book your cool English literature teacher would recommend when you showed an interest in writing, the type of coming-of-age story that would have been equally destined for a banned books list and a summer reading list." - Vulture
"Kevin Wilson's Now Is Not the Time to Panic (Ecco) has the feel of a long-gestating work: a novel about creativity and childhood that seems as though its author has been mulling it since his own youth. It bears the markers of Wilson's style-cleverly cute without tipping over into saccharine territory….Though the book has an earnest heart, it's colored by Wilson's appealingly offbeat prose, so that even the most straightforward coming-of-age moments have a funky freshness." - Vogue
"Kevin Wilson once again deploys his customary humorous, off-center storytelling to artfully delve into deeper matters…[his] deceptively transparent prose, with a touch of humor, a dash of satire and a good bit of insight, carries the reader to a humane and satisfying conclusion." - BookPage (starred review)
"[A] bighearted novel." - Vanity Fair
"Wilson has developed a story that is a precise capture of adolescence and of two vibrant teens whose everyday dilemmas, weaknesses, and triumphs are utterly endearing . . . Crisp dialog and [a] zipping story line." - Booklist (starred review)
"Full of compassion and gentle humor, this is a wise and winning novel about how youth haunts and defines us." - Esquire
"It's the kind of book your cool English literature teacher would recommend when you showed an interest in writing, the type of coming-of-age story that would have been equally destined for a banned books list and a summer reading list." - Vulture
"Kevin Wilson's Now Is Not the Time to Panic (Ecco) has the feel of a long-gestating work: a novel about creativity and childhood that seems as though its author has been mulling it since his own youth. It bears the markers of Wilson's style-cleverly cute without tipping over into saccharine territory….Though the book has an earnest heart, it's colored by Wilson's appealingly offbeat prose, so that even the most straightforward coming-of-age moments have a funky freshness." - Vogue
"Kevin Wilson once again deploys his customary humorous, off-center storytelling to artfully delve into deeper matters…[his] deceptively transparent prose, with a touch of humor, a dash of satire and a good bit of insight, carries the reader to a humane and satisfying conclusion." - BookPage (starred review)
"[A] bighearted novel." - Vanity Fair
