Ambitious, original, deliciously philosophical. Kingdom of the Young
invites comparison to the crônicas of Clarice Lispector and the
fabulas of Italo Calvino. --Carolyn Cooke, author of Daughters of the
Revolution
The dynamic characters in Kingdom of the Young are searching: for
adventure, work, love, absolution, better chances elsewhere. In a
symphonic stream of consciousness, a fanatical child army loses faith in
its commander as he ages unforgivably into his thirties. A woman
possessed with wanderlust and a small inheritance seeks love among the
cave-dwelling Roma in Granada. Traumatized war veterans run local
rackets; smarmy bureaucrats rise through the ranks of repressive
regimes; civilians attempt to escape the stranglehold of life under
dictatorships. From the honeycombed caves outside the Alhambra to the
streets of Havana, from hospital wards to quinceañera parties, these
stories--along with the collection's illuminating nonfiction
coda--testify to Meidav's vast imaginative range.
Edie Meidav is the author of three novels--The Far Field, Crawl
Space, and Lola, California. Her honors include a Lannan Literary
Award, the Kafka Award for Best Novel by an American Woman, the Bard
Fiction Prize, a Whiting Award, and a Howard Fellowship. She teaches in
the University of Massachusetts MFA program and lives in Amherst.
