In this hauntingly unconventional, coming-of-age novel, young baby boomer Lissa Power struggles to grow up during the tumultuous 1950s, '60s, and '70s under the guidance of her father, Stouten -- a watchmaker, inventor, and mechanical wizard who is easily old enough to be her grandfather. When Lissa's mother dies, the reclusive old watchmaker remains determinded to protect his belvoed daughter from all harm. As Lissa matures, Stouten's authority becomes increasingly restrictive, his old-fashioned worldview chafes against the backdrop of fast-changing twentieth-century values. Here, At the end of nowhere, father and daughter weave fact with fiction, merging fantasy and reality to reveal a broader truth.