
The Second Coming
A Novel
Garth Risk Hallberg(Author)
Vintage Books (Publisher)
Published on 16. September 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
608 pages
978-0-593-47101-2 (ISBN)
Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of City on Fire, an intimate epic that plunges us deep into the lives of a teenage girl and her father as they navigate love, grief, betrayal, and redemption
“Beautiful and daring.” —Nathan Hill, author of Wellness
“Breathtaking.” —Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train
When thirteen-year-old Jolie Aspern drops her phone onto the subway tracks in 2011, her estranged dad, Ethan, seems like the furthest thing from her mind. A convicted felon and recovering addict, Ethan has long struggled to see beyond himself. But then a call from New York makes him fear his daughter’s in deeper trouble than anyone realizes. And believing he’s the only one who can save her, he decides to return home.
So begins the journey that will, in time, push Jolie and Ethan—child and adult, apart and together, different yet the same—out past their depths.
Full of yearning and revelation, The Second Coming is at once an incandescent feat of storytelling and an exploration of an enduring mystery: Can the people we love ever really change?
“Beautiful and daring.” —Nathan Hill, author of Wellness
“Breathtaking.” —Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train
When thirteen-year-old Jolie Aspern drops her phone onto the subway tracks in 2011, her estranged dad, Ethan, seems like the furthest thing from her mind. A convicted felon and recovering addict, Ethan has long struggled to see beyond himself. But then a call from New York makes him fear his daughter’s in deeper trouble than anyone realizes. And believing he’s the only one who can save her, he decides to return home.
So begins the journey that will, in time, push Jolie and Ethan—child and adult, apart and together, different yet the same—out past their depths.
Full of yearning and revelation, The Second Coming is at once an incandescent feat of storytelling and an exploration of an enduring mystery: Can the people we love ever really change?
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Random House USA Inc
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
17 ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT
Dimensions
Height: 202 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
498 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-593-47101-2 (9780593471012)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Garth Risk Hallberg