The release date and a synopsis have been revealed for Neil Gaiman’s next full-length novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane: June 18, 2013. Described as “a fable that reshapes modern fantasy,” Ocean’s story unfolds as follows:
It began for our narrator forty years ago, when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed.
His only defense are three women on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang.
To quote Neil himself, “The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a novel of childhood and memory. It’s a story of magic, about the power of stories and how we face the darkness inside each of us. It’s about fear, and love, and death, and families. But, fundamentally, I hope, at its heart, it’s a novel about survival.”