Synopses & Reviews
Children of the Canyon tells the story of David, a boy growing up in L.A.'s fabled Laurel Canyon neighborhood as the 1960s counterculture is coming to an end. David's record producer father works with the reclusive former leader of a surf music band on an album that promises to elevate the legacies of both men to immortal status. His distant, peripatetic mother rides the waves of activism and feminism in and out of David's life. The elusive Topanga, named for the city's last remaining Eden, whom David meets on the beach the night of his parent's separation continues to elude his futile attempts to reconnect with her throughout the decade. Through David's eyes, we bear witness to the fallout from the California Dream's malfunction: the ruined families, failed revolutionaries, curdled musical idealism, and, ultimately, the rise of the conservatism that put the country on its present path.
About the Author
A graduate of Columbia University and UCLA Film School, David Kukoff has 11 produced film and television credits to his name. He has written for every studio and network in Hollywood, has published two books on film and television writing, and has been the subject of features in Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and The Hollywood Reporter. Kukoff has taught writing at Northwestern, UCLA, and NYU, has served as a guest editor to Palgrave MacMillan, and has been a featured as a guest lecturer at UCLA's Faculty Lecture Series at Lake Arrowhead. He lives in Los Angeles. Children of the Canyon is his first novel.