Northern Lights
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A stunning debut novel set in the late 1990s—“a powerful depiction of the currency of intolerance and addiction in one small town” (Kirkus Reviews)—about an androgynous youth who arrives in Minnesota, searching for the mother who abandoned him as a child.
On a clear morning in the summer of 1997, Shane Stephenson arrives in Holm, Minnesota, with only a few changes of clothes, an old Nintendo, and a few dollars to his name. Reeling from the death of his father, Shane wants to find the mother who abandoned him as an adolescent—hoping to reconnect, but also to better understand himself. Against the backdrop of Minnesota’s rugged wilderness, and a town littered with shuttered shops, graffiti, and crumbling infrastructure, Holm feels wild and dangerous.
Holm’s residents, too, are wary of outsiders, and Shane’s long blonde hair and androgynous looks draw attention from a violent and bigoted contingent in town, including the unhinged Sven Svenson. He is drawn in by a group of sympathetic friends in their teens and early twenties, all similarly lost: the reckless, charming J and his girlfriend Mary; Jenny, a brilliant and beautiful artist who dreams of escaping Holm; and the mysterious loner Russell, to whom Shane, against his better judgment, feels a strange attraction. As Sven’s threats of violence escalate, Shane is forced to choose between his search for his mother, the first true friendships he’s ever had, and a desire to leave both his past and present behind entirely.
“A cross between two of the greats in those categories: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), Raymond Strom’s Northern Lights presents an unforgettable world and an experience often overlooked, with a new kind of hero to admire.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Strom's challenging debut follows recent high school graduate Shane's roundabout search for his mother. When his uncle kicks him out of the house in the summer of 1997, Shane goes looking for his mother, who abandoned him years before. He tracks her to the small, rust belt town of Holm, Minn., where the locals react suspiciously to his androgynous looks and long hair. He falls in with erratic drug dealer J and angry, spiteful Jenny, who introduce him to increasingly serious drugs. When not getting high with them, Shane incurs the unbidden wrath and terrifying threats of wannabe Klansman Sven Svenson and pursues a confusing sexual relationship with Russell, who only seeks Shane out when drunk. Despite Shane's plans to leave Holm in the fall for college, he becomes attached. When he finally gets a lead on his mother's whereabouts and leaves town to pursue it, Jenny's desperate measures to help her drug-addled mother lead to horrifying consequences. Strom's insightful navigation of family trauma, sexual identity, and small-town despair blends with his chilling depictions of drug abuse. This bleak, unsentimental novel will resonate with readers who like gritty coming-of-age tales.)