Last Day

“A darkly glittering novel … Ruta, who is also the author of a best-selling memoir, With or Without You, deeply sympathizes with the damaged and their worlds… . Despite the heavy subject matter, comic moments leaven the book.”—The New York Times“In this woven novel, we humans are love, are destruction, are wish and want. Domenica Ruta has created a portrait of humanity in a moment that is both the end and the beginning, and this novel is urgent and true and filled with such beauty.”—Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty and No One Is Here Except All of Us“Domenica Ruta’s empathy is broad and deep, her prose fine-grained, her humor sharp but tender. Last Day is a life-affirming antidote to these pre-apocalyptic times.”—Teddy Wayne, author of Loner“Domenica Ruta has collected seven disconnected lives—each one heartbreaking and hilarious, flawed and exalted—and masterfully ties them together using rituals of loss and celebration. Last Day travels from outer space panoramas to palm-sized minutia, every paragraph punctuated with curious truths. I devoured this book and, much like the world itself, I didn’t want it to end.”—Adam Nemett, author of We Can Save Us All“Last Day is a galaxy unto itself, a profound and incisive slice of our world on the edge of its inevitable end from a brilliant voice in American fiction.”—Amelia Gray, author of Isadora“After making a splash with her memoir, With or Without You, Ruta returns with an inventive first novel… . An entertaining and clever speculative tale.”—Booklist“A beautiful portrait of humanity in the shadow of a dying Earth … Ruta delicately sketches the large cast of characters—as well as their dreams, fears, and failures—with care. She’s able to pinpoint certain universal feelings with precision.”—Kirkus Reviews

Domenica Ruta is the author of the celebrated memoir With or Without You. Raised in Danvers, Massachusetts, she is a graduate of Oberlin College and holds an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, Blue Mountain Center, Jentel, Hedgebrook, and the Tisch School for the Arts. Her short fiction has appeared in Epoch and the Indiana Review.

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