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ARISE
From the Best-Selling and Award-Winning Author of THE WAY, hailed by O, the OPRAH Magazine as "A Title to Pick Up Now!" comes a novella as enchanting as it is disturbing. Challenging our sense of space and time—and the very truth of reality—ARISE offers a provocative glimpse into the one unsettling possibility we all face. Praise for THE A Girl Who Dared to Rise “Wow, is all I can say. This novel blew me away!”—Book Pleasures “I don’t think I could rave anymore about this book … truly one of a kind.”—Chick Lit Plus "This imaginative novel may make you a believer."—O, The Oprah Magazine “THE WAY is a daring and passionate debut from an author to watch in the future.”—Historical Novel Society “Respelendent writing.”—Minding Spot “…page turning and utterly creative.”—Maria’s Space Domy’s life is predictable. He prefers it that way. Living in service to a benevolent ruler, the introverted Groundskeeper has dedicated his life to overseeing her magnificent property. But when his crew suffers multiple accidents and the land’s gorgeous plants and animals are overtaken by frightening disfigurements, Domy must confront the possibility that things are not what they seem. Tensions ratchet higher with the imminent arrival of honored Guests. In a frantic search for answers, Domy breaks Estate Law to elicit help from Flora, the beautiful Laundress. But can he really trust her? When their unlawful probing leads them to discover a devastating truth about their ruler—and their very own existence—Domy realizes that he and Flora have nowhere to hide. And only one choice. A mysterious and fantastical tale, ARISE's familiar beginnings belie a disturbing climax—one that leaves readers teetering somewhere between enchanted and unnerved. Praise for An Exquisite Tale of Love and Passion "Every now and then someone writes something that...leaves you shaking your head in wonder at the skillful storytelling, the use of language, and the depth of characters. This is one such book."—CURVE Magazine "A passionate, evocative and sensitive story that is hard to put down...very highly recommended."—Midwest Book Review “Wolf is a masterful storyteller who has created an enchanting novel…ESCAPEMENT will resonate with anyone who has ever felt passion.”—IndieReader "I loved this book so very much. From the plot, to the characters, to the sheer beauty of the writing this was a perfectly composed novel."—Honestly Austen
106 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 23, 2018
56 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Kristen Wolf
4 books50 followersKristen Wolf is an award-winning author, filmmaker and producer.
Working across diverse media, she’s committed to telling the stories of daring outsiders whose lives spark change.
Wolf’s first novel, THE WAY: A Girl Who Dared to Rise, was hailed by O, The Oprah Magazine as, “A title to pick up now!” Her second novel, ESCAPEMENT: An Exquisite Tale of Love and Passion earned critical acclaim and multiple awards including the IPPY, IAN, NIEA, BIBA, LesFic Bard Award, IndieReader Discovery Award and the Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award.
Wolf’s short documentary, CLUB Q: The Legendary Dance Party for Women, premiered at the Director’s Guild of America and went on to screen at festivals worldwide.
Her latest short film, SPARKLE, tells the story of a non-binary child struggling to find the perfect Father’s Day gift for their disapproving dad. The film is currently screening at festivals and was awarded Best LGBTQ+ Directed Short Film at the Phoenix Film Festival 2023.
Wolf’s producing credits include NASRIN (dir: Jeff Kaufman), I WAS BORN THIS WAY (dir: Daniel Junge, Sam Pollard), SUBJECT TO CHANGE (dir: Daniel Peddle, the 25-year follow up to the groundbreaking doc, THE AGGRESSIVES) and the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway hit, A STRANGE LOOP.
Currently, she’s in pre-production on a new short film and preparing to direct her first feature, THE ADAGIO, a passionate queer love story adapted from her second novel.
Wolf serves proudly on Gamechanger Films’ NonProfit, driven by the mission to advance equity and authenticity in the entertainment industry and co-founded Women Have Wings, a grant-making organization that honors and supports courageous women activists around the globe.
Working across diverse media, she’s committed to telling the stories of daring outsiders whose lives spark change.
Wolf’s first novel, THE WAY: A Girl Who Dared to Rise, was hailed by O, The Oprah Magazine as, “A title to pick up now!” Her second novel, ESCAPEMENT: An Exquisite Tale of Love and Passion earned critical acclaim and multiple awards including the IPPY, IAN, NIEA, BIBA, LesFic Bard Award, IndieReader Discovery Award and the Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award.
Wolf’s short documentary, CLUB Q: The Legendary Dance Party for Women, premiered at the Director’s Guild of America and went on to screen at festivals worldwide.
Her latest short film, SPARKLE, tells the story of a non-binary child struggling to find the perfect Father’s Day gift for their disapproving dad. The film is currently screening at festivals and was awarded Best LGBTQ+ Directed Short Film at the Phoenix Film Festival 2023.
Wolf’s producing credits include NASRIN (dir: Jeff Kaufman), I WAS BORN THIS WAY (dir: Daniel Junge, Sam Pollard), SUBJECT TO CHANGE (dir: Daniel Peddle, the 25-year follow up to the groundbreaking doc, THE AGGRESSIVES) and the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway hit, A STRANGE LOOP.
Currently, she’s in pre-production on a new short film and preparing to direct her first feature, THE ADAGIO, a passionate queer love story adapted from her second novel.
Wolf serves proudly on Gamechanger Films’ NonProfit, driven by the mission to advance equity and authenticity in the entertainment industry and co-founded Women Have Wings, a grant-making organization that honors and supports courageous women activists around the globe.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 2, 2020
Having read The Way: A Girl Who Dared to Rise, I was very keen to read another book by the same author, Kristen Wolf.
I was not at all disappointed.
The concept that forms the basis for this story is very clever although I am not sure that it is entirely original. As anything? I can’t really reveal anything more about that idea without giving too much away, but the book is worth reading just to find out what I mean.
She also employs an unusual style of writing: incomplete sentences and unexpected capitalisation. This is obviously intentional and soon became familiar as I began to understand that it is appropriate for this story.
Domy is the experienced Groundskeeper on the Estate which is ruled by Her Sovereign who is feared by all. He is the boss of all the Workers and is served by the Housekeeper and Flora, the laundress.
Domy knows every detail of the Estate, down to the position of every plant and the expected behaviours of the wildlife. He becomes alarmed when he notices unusual changes around the Estate and fears humiliation in front of the Workers and, worse, a summons from Her Sovereign.
Those unusual changes get worse and spell disaster.
With memories of his mother and things that she said to him towards the end of her life, he seeks solutions. Domy engages the support of Flora in his quest. The tension builds towards a rather tense and scary climax.
This is a great read and I thoroughly recommend it. I came very close to awarding five stars and probably would have done had the memory of the brilliant The Way: A Girl Who Dared to Rise not been lingering in my mind.
I was not at all disappointed.
The concept that forms the basis for this story is very clever although I am not sure that it is entirely original. As anything? I can’t really reveal anything more about that idea without giving too much away, but the book is worth reading just to find out what I mean.
She also employs an unusual style of writing: incomplete sentences and unexpected capitalisation. This is obviously intentional and soon became familiar as I began to understand that it is appropriate for this story.
Domy is the experienced Groundskeeper on the Estate which is ruled by Her Sovereign who is feared by all. He is the boss of all the Workers and is served by the Housekeeper and Flora, the laundress.
Domy knows every detail of the Estate, down to the position of every plant and the expected behaviours of the wildlife. He becomes alarmed when he notices unusual changes around the Estate and fears humiliation in front of the Workers and, worse, a summons from Her Sovereign.
Those unusual changes get worse and spell disaster.
With memories of his mother and things that she said to him towards the end of her life, he seeks solutions. Domy engages the support of Flora in his quest. The tension builds towards a rather tense and scary climax.
This is a great read and I thoroughly recommend it. I came very close to awarding five stars and probably would have done had the memory of the brilliant The Way: A Girl Who Dared to Rise not been lingering in my mind.
October 6, 2018
the only reason I give ARISE 4 stars instead of 5 is that I read it after I read Kristen Wolf's book, The Way. I thought after reading The Way that I wouldn't be able to read another book for awhile because I was so enthralled by it but then I discovered more books by Kristen and off I went on another adventure with ARISE.
First, I LOVE Kristen Wolf's storytelling. It's engaging and surprises me at every turn. I often find myself saying OMG out loud when I read her books.
I was captivated by the punctuation in ARISE - something I've never said about a book before. it created such an intriguing cadence and brought me to stop and consider the story and the telling of it more closely. it added to the mystery of the story.
ARISE is a story out of the blue like it was plucked from a sci-fi version of Grimm's. It's a wild kind of fairy tale with otherworldly characters and a surprise ending that is more than food for thought in today's world.
First, I LOVE Kristen Wolf's storytelling. It's engaging and surprises me at every turn. I often find myself saying OMG out loud when I read her books.
I was captivated by the punctuation in ARISE - something I've never said about a book before. it created such an intriguing cadence and brought me to stop and consider the story and the telling of it more closely. it added to the mystery of the story.
ARISE is a story out of the blue like it was plucked from a sci-fi version of Grimm's. It's a wild kind of fairy tale with otherworldly characters and a surprise ending that is more than food for thought in today's world.
October 24, 2020
Small and twisted, very nice.
I fought with myself a little about this story. I really liked the premise. A cautionary tale of two workers who went beyond their bounds to discover what lay beyond the borders of the kingdom, to try to be free of their roles in life. Not the worst goal to have. I argued with myself over whether the story should have been bigger, more dramatic and eventful. An uprising with more people involved and the workers having found more on the other side which was then covered up. Then I thought, "No!" Leave it alone. It's just fine the way it is. The way the author means for it to be. Lean and simple. I like it that way.
I fought with myself a little about this story. I really liked the premise. A cautionary tale of two workers who went beyond their bounds to discover what lay beyond the borders of the kingdom, to try to be free of their roles in life. Not the worst goal to have. I argued with myself over whether the story should have been bigger, more dramatic and eventful. An uprising with more people involved and the workers having found more on the other side which was then covered up. Then I thought, "No!" Leave it alone. It's just fine the way it is. The way the author means for it to be. Lean and simple. I like it that way.
April 13, 2020
This novella will take you by surprise into a magical world where things aren't quite what they seem. Domy, the groundskeeper has inherited his mother's job and takes pride in the beauty and care of the vegetation and habitat he creates for those who live on the Estate. Mysterious events cause him to question why plants and animals are dying. Flora befriends him to unravel the puzzles. Kristen Wolf is an engaging storyteller.
January 18, 2021
Reach for the stars
A gripping take of a young man, disabled by his mother's love and imminent death. The author used fantasy, monarchy, to show similarities and differeces and communications among them.
A gripping take of a young man, disabled by his mother's love and imminent death. The author used fantasy, monarchy, to show similarities and differeces and communications among them.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews