Description
Violence haunts 1915 Atlanta and so does the golem a group of girls creates
A dark, lyrical blend of historical fiction and magical realism, The Curators examines a critically underexplored event in American history through unlikely eyes. On the Jewish south side of Atlanta in 1915, in the days after the lynching of Leo Frank, fourteen-year-old Ana Wulff and her friends are keeping Frank's story alive through any means possible. Indeed, the girls are so obsessed with the two-year-long Frank case that they build a golem in his image, using dirt from Ana's garden. But when their seemingly innocent game gets out of hand, they, as the golem's creators, must decide what their responsibility requires of them.
About the Author
Maggie Nye is a writer and teacher whose work has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, and the St. Albans Writer in Residence program. The short story from which this novel grew was published in Pleiades.
Reviews
"A tale of obsession within the collective, The Curators is a fearful, splendid debut that is both eerie and elegant in its telling."-Justin Torres, winner of the National Book Award "The Curators is astonishingly self-assured, and not only for a debut novel; I can't recall a historical fiction I have enjoyed or admired more in recent years. Just as the novel's protagonist's seek to narrate their own lives on their own terms, so does the novel take historical facts and make them into the best-and truest-kinds of fictions, proving by example just how more "true" a novel can be than a piece of journalism or a historical record. Indeed, it made me think of how necessary fiction is in this regard; there are things only fiction can say about the past, and about the present, and I'm thankful to Nye reminding me of this." -Maryse Meijer, author of The Seventh Mansion
Book Information
ISBN 9780810147324
Author Maggie Nye
Format Paperback
Page Count 296
Imprint Northwestern University Press
Publisher Northwestern University Press
Weight(grams) 454g
A dark, lyrical blend of historical fiction and magical realism, The Curators examines a critically underexplored event in American history through unlikely eyes. On the Jewish south side of Atlanta in 1915, in the days after the lynching of Leo Frank, fourteen-year-old Ana Wulff and her friends are keeping Frank's story alive through any means possible. Indeed, the girls are so obsessed with the two-year-long Frank case that they build a golem in his image, using dirt from Ana's garden. But when their seemingly innocent game gets out of hand, they, as the golem's creators, must decide what their responsibility requires of them.
About the Author
Maggie Nye is a writer and teacher whose work has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, and the St. Albans Writer in Residence program. The short story from which this novel grew was published in Pleiades.
Reviews
"A tale of obsession within the collective, The Curators is a fearful, splendid debut that is both eerie and elegant in its telling."-Justin Torres, winner of the National Book Award "The Curators is astonishingly self-assured, and not only for a debut novel; I can't recall a historical fiction I have enjoyed or admired more in recent years. Just as the novel's protagonist's seek to narrate their own lives on their own terms, so does the novel take historical facts and make them into the best-and truest-kinds of fictions, proving by example just how more "true" a novel can be than a piece of journalism or a historical record. Indeed, it made me think of how necessary fiction is in this regard; there are things only fiction can say about the past, and about the present, and I'm thankful to Nye reminding me of this." -Maryse Meijer, author of The Seventh Mansion
Book Information
ISBN 9780810147324
Author Maggie Nye
Format Paperback
Page Count 296
Imprint Northwestern University Press
Publisher Northwestern University Press
Weight(grams) 454g
