"The Beauty of the End"

Lauren Stienstra is an American novelist who enjoys writing about the intersection of duty, science, and humanity. She believes that fiction can encourage readers to re-think their roles, responsibilities, and relationships in our own present world.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Stienstra now lives, works, and writes around Washington, D.C. She holds advanced degrees in science and public policy from the George Washington and Johns Hopkins universities, and trained in creative writing at UCLA.

Stienstra applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Beauty of the End, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Three birds, one stone. By joining the Mendelia, I’d get to leave Hawley. I’d get to stay with my sister. I’d surrender my ovaries and everyone would stop bothering me about kids.

It was almost too good to be true.

“There’s just one last thing,” I said. “What are we going to tell Mom?”

Albeit brief, this page offers a great summary of The Beauty of the End up to page 69, and also hints at the forthcoming tension. A reader skipping to this page will be left with several pressing questions—one of which is particularly chilling. What is the Mendelia? (It should carry an ominous undertone.) Why does the narrator want to leave Hawley? And most perplexingly, why does she think surrendering her ovaries is a good thing? The answers to these three questions are central to my main character’s motivation, and they are all tidily encapsulated here.

As far as the unfolding drama, it’s clear the main character is speaking to someone—but who? Based on the weight of internal dialogue, the reader will likely (and correctly) suspect that the conversational partner is someone significant. Then comes the reveal: they share a mother. Even more intriguingly, they are conspiring to keep something from her. One of these siblings has an something to hide—a major plot point in the book.

From this short excerpt, the reader will probably surmise that there is something sinister afoot. While the opening chapters gradually build this atmosphere, this passage distills it quite effectively. The only missing piece is a direct reference to the precipitating crisis—the discovery of the species-ending genetic flaw.

Visit Lauren Stienstra's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Beauty of the End.

--Marshal Zeringue