Len Jenkin’s “N Judah”

Spring break is here (my last spring break, ever, since this is the last step of my education–unless, as I tease my parents, I go to medical school next) and on my night stand is a tower of books that I want to read before the week is out. At the top of this tower is a peculiar-looking square white book with a haunted-looking author on its cover. This haunted-looking author is none other than my teacher, Len Jenkin, and the book is his newest: “N Judah.”

Len is a fantastic teacher and also a fantastic writer. His last book, New Jerusalem, was hailed by The New York Times as “a delicate, moving novel set in a blasted, despairing future, early in the 21st century.” His play, “Margo Veil,” was one of my favorite theatrical productions from last year (the press loved it too). This newest book, N Judah, tells “the story of a San Francisco woman who, upon hearing of the death in New Orleans of her very special son, travels with an old lover to the American South. What they encounter in pre-Katrina New Orleans is as hidden and bizarre as the city itself: a mirrored maze of deception and half-truths that eventually erupt into violence.”

Len adds, via e-mail, that the novel does have food references: “a few New Orleans places–Cafe Du Monde (where the beignets are the best, by the way), Vinnette’s and a few others.”

You can buy the book directly from the publisher by clicking the picture above or at amazon (and also Barnes & Noble.)