Synopses & Reviews
PART ADVENTURE STORY, part cautionary tale, So Late, So Soon explores the boundaries between selflessness and having no sense of self; between needing and wanting; between the sacred and the profane. Sometimes heartbreaking, often hilarious, Fallon's account of her young life in a California Christian commune engagingly illustrates the complexities of desire and the deeply-rooted longing we all feel to be taken in, accepted, and loved. Shame, lust, compassion, and enlightenment all find their place in Fallons honest retelling of her quest for community. KIM BARNES, author of Finding Caruso
HOW DID A SMART AND SASSY YOUNG WOMAN end up living on the land in pure seventies style with a group of people who work as Donut Brothers going door-to-door selling for Our Fathers Bakery? Fallon takes us into the life of a born-again commune with compassion and humor and she's an ungodly good guide. LOUISE RAFKIN, author of Other Peoples Dirt: A Housecleaners Curious Adventures
SO LATE, SO SOON is the story of one woman's misadventures in religion, but in the hands of a writer as skilled and generous as Fallon, it becomes the story of every persons search for faith in themselves, in others, and in the crazy ways of the world. A clear-eyed, compassionate, and rewarding book. BERNARD COOPER, author of Maps to Anywhere, winner of the 1991 PEN/Hemingway Award
I FOUND D'ARCY FALLON'S STORY FASCINATING, as will anyone who has ever wondered about the role women play in fundamental religious sects. What would draw an otherwise independent woman to a life of menial labor and subservience? Fallon's answer is this story, both an inside look at 70s commune life and a funny, irreverent, poignant coming of age. JUDY BLUNT, author of Breaking Clean
Review
"I found D'Arcy Fallon's story fascinating, as will anyone who has ever wondered about the role women play in fundamental religious sects. What would draw an otherwise independent woman to a life of menial labor and subservience? Fallon's answer is this story, both an inside look at '70s commune life and a funny, irreverent, poignant coming of age." Judy Blunt, author of Breaking Clean
Review
"Part adventure story, part cautionary tale, So Late, So Soon explores the boundaries between selflessness and having no sense of self; between needing and wanting; between the sacred and the profane. Sometimes heartbreaking, often hilarious, Fallon's account of her young life in a California Christian commune engagingly illustrates the complexities of desire and the deeply-rooted longing we all feel to be taken in, accepted, and loved. Shame, lust, compassion, and enlightenment all find their place in Fallon's honest retelling of her quest for community." Kim Barnes, author of Finding Caruso
Review
"So Late, So Soon is the story of one woman's misadventures in religion, but in the hands of a writer as skilled and generous as Fallon, it becomes the story of every person's search for faith in themselves, in others, and in the crazy ways of the world. A clear-eyed, compassionate, and rewarding book." Bernard Cooper, author of Maps to Anywhere, winner of the 1991 PEN/Hemingway Award
Review
"How did a smart and sassy young woman end up living on the land in pure seventies style with a group of people who work as Donut Brothers going door-to-door selling for Our Father's Bakery? Fallon takes us into the life of a born-again commune with compassion and humor and she's an ungodly good guide." Louise Rafkin, author of Other People's Dirt: A Housecleaner's Curious Adventures
Review
"Over the past few years, I've read a lot of autobiographical writing about significant aspects of contemporary culture. It was both amazing and refreshing then to find myself laughing out loud with tears in my eyes as D'Arcy Fallon described her experiences in a religious cult. 'Described' is barely an adequate word for the rip-roaring ride Fallon took me on through some pretty serious stuff about self-delusion and self-awareness. She proves there are lots of ways to remember the good and bad times and many 'fundamentalisms' to avoid at all costs." Eloise Klein Healy, author of Passing and Artemis in Echo Park
Synopsis
D'Arcy Fallon offers an irreverent, fly-on-the-wall view of the Lighthouse Ranch, a Christian commune she called home for three years in the mid-1970s. At 18 years old, when life's questions overwhelmed her and reconciling her family past with her future seemed impossible, she accidentally came upon the Ranch during a hitchhike gone awry. Perched on a windswept bluff in Loleta, a dozen miles from anywhere in Northern California, this community of lost and found twenty-somethings lured her in with promises of abounding love, spiritual serenity, and a hardy, pioneer existence. What she didn't count on was the fog.
After living communally with more than a dozen "sisters," marrying before she was ready, and doing domestic chores to keep the ranch afloat, Fallon's life and religious idealism begin to unravel. Through a series of harrowing and heartbreaking decisions, she begins the process that will lead her away from the ranch and into her own life one step at a time.
About the Author
D'Arcy Fallon has been an award-winning journalist and columnist for nearly twenty years, working for such papers as the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the San Francisco Examiner, and the Colorado Springs Gazette. Her stories typically have focused on the disenfranchised, the urban poor, and those most at risk in society. The American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors named her one of the best newspaper columnists in the country in 1997. She has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Antioch University in Los Angeles. Fallon teaches English composition and creative nonfiction at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She lives north of Colorado Springs with her husband and son.