#19 in Bestselling Audiobooks #10 in Bestselling Fiction - Literary AudiobooksĪn exuberant, bighearted novel about two teenage misfits who spectacularly collide one fateful summer, and the art they make that changes their lives forever Now Is Not The Time to Panic is a sweet, funny, and at times melancholic look at the lasting effect a fleeting summer has on the lives of two teens still trying to find their footing in the world.”

The relationship between Frankie and Zeke is charming and sweet and complicated as they try to comprehend how an innocent enough attempt at guerrilla art spirals so far out of their control, their reactions churning between pride, awe, horror, and fear. But soon the flyers are replicating themselves all over the state, with rumors of satanic cults, and worse. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.' They hang these flyers around their small Tennessee town hoping to stir up a little whimsical mystery. Frankie comes up with the words, Zeke illustrates it: 'The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. Now Is Not the Time to Panic tells the story of the fictional 'Coalfield Panic of 1996' and the two artsy and awkward teens who inadvertently start it. It’s also about the secrets that haunt us-and, ultimately, what the truth will set free.“Kevin Wilson does many things well, but what he does best of all is the quirky coming of age story. Could Frances’ past destroy the life she has so carefully built?Ī 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. Twenty years later, Frances Eleanor Budge-famous author, mother to a wonderful daughter, wife to a loving husband-gets a call that threatens to upend everything: a journalist asks if Frances might know something about the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Copies of their work are everywhere in town, and rumours start to fly about who might be behind the ubiquitous posters: Satanists? Kidnappers? Soon, the mystery has dangerous repercussions that spread further afield, and the art that brought Frankie and Zeke together now threatens to tear them apart. Sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge-aspiring writer, indifferent student, offbeat loner-is determined to make it through yet another sad summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, when she meets Zeke, a talented artist who is as lonely and awkward as she is.Īs romantic and creative sparks begin to fly, Frankie and Zeke make an unsigned poster that becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it.

Now is not the time to panic a novel