Carolyn Kuebler in conversation with Ladette Randolph

About the Author:

Carolyn Kuebler was a co-founder of the literary journal Rain Taxi and is now the editor of the award-winning New England Review. Her stories and essays have been published in The Common and Colorado Review, among others, and “Wildflower Season,” published in The Massachusetts Review, won the 2022 John Burroughs Award for Nature Essays. She lives in Middlebury, Vermont, where she enjoys bird-watching and cross-country skiing. Liquid, Fragile, Perishable is her first novel.

About the Book:

A vivid and moving portrayal of the intricate web of relations and fate in a small New England town, told with interlocking storylines in a unique and mesmerizing voice of uncommon power in this debut novel.
May has arrived in the tiny hamlet of Glenville, Vermont, bringing with it currents of rejuvenation and rebirth. For 3 families, though, the year ahead will prove to be a roller coaster of life-changing events, promises, and tragedies.
Liquid, Fragile, Perishable unspools via a chorus of unforgettable voices: an old-school Christian beekeeping family and newly transplanted New Yorkers; a trio of teenage girls and a deeply rooted family of ne’er-do-wells; and one woman who just wants to live alone in the woods. The shifting set of relations among the citizens of this community encompasses teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, poverty—and a cavalcade of thwarted dreams, young love in bloom, and poignant missed connections.
This powerful debut is a subtle and beautiful story about the interlocking relationships among the residents of a small town out of Sherwood Anderson or Thornton Wilder—but with a very contemporary set of problems ... By turns sexy, shocking, and wistful, this coruscating debut conveys the hopes, the sadness, and the secrets of a whole great world.
Told in a vivid style of complete distinction, the novel has a magic and a momentum all its own, giving a look into the aching, silent heart of America.

About Ladette:

Ladette Randolph is editor-in-chief of Ploughshares and co-owner of the manuscript consulting firm, Randolph Ludine. A publishing professional for over 30 years, early in her career she was managing editor of Prairie Schooner and later an acquiring editor at University of Nebraska Press. In addition, she is author of five award-winning books, most recently the novel Private Way.

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