Edan Lepucki is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her debut novel, California, was published in 2014, and her shorter fiction has been featured in such publications as Los Angeles Times Magazine, McSweeny’s, Meridian, and elsewhere. Currently, Lepucki works with the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, where she is an instructor.
California by Edan Lepucki
In Edan Lepucki’s debut novel California, published in 2014, Cal and Frida are a young couple trying to eke out a living in a post-apocalyptic Californian wilderness. Their relationship has fared relatively well during their two years of near-isolation, but the intrusion of strangers — first a small family, then Frida's unexpected pregnancy, and later a commune with its own deep problems and secrets — reveals severe cracks in their seemingly perfect marriage.
Perhaps post-apocalyptic isn't the right descriptor for the time setting. "Mid-apocalyptic" might be better, as the downfall of global society is due to neither nuclear winter, nor global pandemic, nor any of the currently fashionable world-killers. What Lepucki has created is a logical and refreshing extension of present-day problems into the year 2050, resulting in an America where heating oil, el... Read More
