The Meat and Spirit Plan

In lyric, diamond-cut prose, Selah Saterstrom revisits the mythic, dead-end Southern town of Beau Repose. This time, the story follows a strung-out American teenager influenced by heavy metal, inspired by Ginger Rogers, hell-bent on self-destruction, and more intelligent than anyone around her realizes. She is forced into rehab and private school, and her life, at least on the surface, changes course, eventually leading to theology studies in Scotland. But as the feverish St. Vitus's dance of her adolescence morphs into slow-motion inertia abroad, an illness brings her home again-to face the legacy of pain she left behind and to find a way to become the lead in a dance of her own creation.

An heir to William Faulkner and Toni Morrison, Saterstrom soars above the traditional boundaries of the American novel with exquisite, cut-to-the-quick language (Raleigh News & Observer) that makes her novels impossible to put down. Spare, raw, and transcendent, Saterstrom's unflinching examination of modern-day Dixie and contemporary adolescence lights up the dark corners of the American experience.

"'This dark first-person tale of youthful initiation by Mississippi-born Saterstrom (The Pink Institution) follows a feisty narrator from public housing in a backward Southern town to the sodden grit of university life in Glasgow. The young, unnamed narrator of these detached vignettes falls into bad company as her drug-addict mother largely disappears and her older sister introduces her to sex and booze. The narrator loses her virginity early on during a drunken bout with a football player and subsequently hangs out with half-Vietnamese friend Heather and her doped-up loser pals. It's not clear how, but after being sent to reform school, the narrator distinguishes herself in English, which opens the door to college in 'Big City,' and later, to Scottish University, where she studies religion, delves into postmodern studies and hooks up with former 'heroin freak' Ian. Her mother's death brings her home just in time for gallstones to send her to the hospital for a long stay. Through banter with night nurse Charlie (who calls her Ginger Rogers), she establishes a connection in the face of rupture and loss. Saterstrom's coming-of-age narrative is tough and unblinking, and the moments of clarity provide immense satisfaction. (Sept.)' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Like an experimentally inclined Annie Proulx, Saterstrom tersely renders the effects of social violence on individual lives... the effect is shattering and transcendent." Modern Times Bookstore newsletter

"The Meat and Spirit Plan is ferocious and dazzling, the work of a savage poet. Every scene is a hard polished gem of raunch and revelation. Strung together they build a force of piercing tenderness. It's an impressive achievement, and a real pleasure to read." Katherine Dunn

A searing coming-of-age novel set to the music of chance.

Like an experimentally inclined Annie Proulx, Saterstrom tersely renders the effects of social violence on individual lives . . . the effect is shattering and transcendent.--Modern Times Bookstore newsletter

In lyric, diamond-cut prose, Selah Saterstrom revisits the mythic, dead-end Southern town of Beau Repose. This time, the story follows a strung-out American teenager influenced by heavy metal, inspired by Ginger Rogers, hell-bent on self-destruction, and more intelligent than anyone around her realizes. She is forced into rehab and private school, and her life, at least on the surface, changes course, eventually leading to theology studies in Scotland. But as the feverish St. Vitus's dance of her adolescence morphs into slow-motion inertia abroad, an illness brings her home again--to face the legacy of pain she left behind and to find a way to become the lead in a dance of her own creation.

An heir to William Faulkner and Toni Morrison, Saterstrom soars above the traditional boundaries of the American novel with exquisite, cut-to-the-quick language (Raleigh News & Observer) that makes her novels impossible to put down. Spare, raw, and transcendent, Saterstrom's unflinching examination of modern-day Dixie and contemporary adolescence lights up the dark corners of the American experience.

Selah Saterstrom is the author of The Pink Institution, a debut novel praised across the country for letting gusts of fresh, tart air blow into the old halls of Southern Gothic (The Believer). A Mississippi native, she is currently on the faculty of the University of Denver's Creative Writing Program. Visit her website at www.selahsaterstrom.com.

Selah Saterstrom is the author of The Pink Institution, a debut novel praised across the country for letting gusts of fresh, tart air blow into the old halls of Southern Gothic (the Believer). A Mississippi native, she is currently on the faculty of the University of Denver's Creative Writing Program.