Sex. Drugs. Corruption. Misunderstanding. In her debut novel, Lindsay Ahl explores these themes through the eyes of 35-year-old Elena Monroe, a confused individual who has occasional cravings for grape juice. Elena stumbles through a web of the past and present, trying to work out her relationship with her mother. Ahl’s vague and ethereal writing style helps tremendously in creating Elena, who is so unreliable as a narrator that we don’t even trust the story to be over just because when we’ve run out of pages to read. Local imprint Coffee House Press published Desire, but that’s not the only Minnesotan connection. At one point, Elena drives through Minneapolis just in time to catch a Bob Dylan concert. (Available now)
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