The Lightest Object in the Universe

I love a good apocalypse title. It’s not the devastation that intrigues me, it’s the rebuilding process. Starting from scratch, the uncertainty, the coming together of people and communities that in a different world would never even share the same dinner table, let alone rebuild civilization together. I suspect The Lightest Object in the Universe will provide many “what if” moments. Recommended By Corie K-B., Powells.com

"This is a novel with that exact balance of heart and momentum. Dazzling." Christian Kiefer, author of The Animals

What if the end times allowed people to see and build the world anew? This is the landscape that Kimi Eisele creates in her surprising and original debut novel. Evoking the spirit of such monumental love stories as Cold Mountain and the creative vision of novels like Station Eleven, The Lightest Object in the Universe tells the story of what happens after the global economy collapses and the electrical grid goes down.

In this new world, Carson, on the East Coast, is desperate to find Beatrix, a woman on the West Coast who holds his heart. Working his way along a cross-country railroad line, he encounters lost souls, clever opportunists, and those who believe they'll be saved by an evangelical preacher in the middle of the country. Meanwhile, Beatrix and her neighbors begin to construct a cooperative community that suggests the end could be, in fact, a bright beginning.

Without modern means of communication, will Beatrix and Carson reach each other, and what will be left of the old world if they do? The answers may lie with a 15-year-old girl who could ultimately decide the fate of the cross-country lovers.

The Lightest Object in the Universe is a story about resilience and adaptation, a testament to the power of community, where our best traits, born of necessity, begin to emerge.

“Kimi Eisele’s first novel is a love story set in a landscape where everything (government, history, infrastructure) has collapsed — except our need for one another and the struggle to persevere. In such a world, love may be on the run, but it can still be a transforming force. What’s required is a kind of faith: in ourselves, in one another, in a future that is no more or less uncertain than it has always been. The experience of humanity, in other words, which Eisele brings to every page of this deeply moving narrative.” David L. Ulin, author of Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles

“It might be an oxymoron to call an apocalyptic novel hopeful, but The Lightest Object in the Universe is a testament to the power of love in the darkest times. Like a near-future Cold Mountain, it's the story of a man's epic journey to reunite with the woman he loves, and a woman's determination to reimagine and rebuild after the fall. There's horror, yes, but more moments of ingenuity, generosity, and grace. I couldn't put it down." Sheri Holman, author of Witches on the Road Tonight

“A tale told in sentences starkly declarative of the gone world they describe, The Lightest Object in the Universe offers characters that linger long after the final page is turned. This is a novel with that exact balance of heart and momentum. Dazzling.” Christian Kiefer, author of The Animals

Kimi Eisele is a writer and multidisciplinary artist. Her writing has appeared in Orion, High Country News, Terrain, and Fourth Genre. She holds a master’s degree in geography from the University of Arizona, where in 1998 she founded You Are Here: The Journal of Creative Geography. Her work has been funded by the Arts Foundation of Southern Arizona, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Kresge Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Tucson and works for the Southwest Folklife Alliance.