Description
Book SynopsisWinner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction Barnes & Noble 2014 Discover Great New Writers Selection, Third Place The stories in Elegy on Kinderklavier explore the profound loss and intricate effects of war on lives that have been suddenly misaligned. A diplomat navigates a hostile political climate and an arranged marriage in an Israeli settlement on a newly discovered planet; a small town in Kansas shuns the army recruiter who signed up its boys as troops are deployed to Iraq, falling in helicopters and on grenades; a family dissolves around mental illness and a child's body overtaken by cancer. The moment a soldier steps on an explosive device is painfully reproduced, nanosecond by nanosecond. Arna Bontemps Hemenway's stories feel pulled out of time and place, and the suffering of his characters seem at once otherworldly and stunningly familiar. Elegy on Kinderklavier is a disquieting exploration of what it is to lose and be lost.
Trade Review"In this impressive debut short story collection, Hemenway shows a depth of emotion and intensity that carries the reader from start to finish. These haunting stories deserve a wide audience." Library Journal, starred review "Death is an imminent, lurking presence in this debut collection of seven stories, which explore the confluence of fate and circumstance that places men in situations of anguish and despair." Publishers Weekly
"In this impressive debut short story collection, Hemenway shows a depth of emotion and intensity that carries the reader from start to finish. These haunting stories deserve a wide audience." —Library Journal, starred review "Death is an imminent, lurking presence in this debut collection of seven stories, which explore the confluence of fate and circumstance that places men in situations of anguish and despair." —Publishers Weekly
Table of ContentsThe Fugue The Half Moon Martyrs’ Brigade of New Jerusalem, Kansas The I.E.D. A Life In the Mosque of Imam Alwani The Territory of Grief Elegy on Kinderklavier
