Avalon

LoveReading Says

Part coming-of-age survival story, part unconventional love story, part wry commentary on contemporary America and the people who fall prey to capitalism’s claws, Nell Zink’s Avalon is a unique and thought-provoking page-turner. Zink’s writing is razor-sharp and sublimely spell-binding, and Avalon boasts a remarkable narrative voice that had me hooked from the visceral opening scene.

With her father long gone, and a mother who abandoned her for a Buddhist colony, Bran’s childhood saw her raised by cruel non-relatives on a plant nursey (essentially a bunch of outlaw bikers), where she was set to work from a tender age. “Never considered a member of the family unless they wanted something from me,”, here Bran was “the ignorant child who knew no other life, the perfect employee, taught to accept self-harm as an economic necessity.”

But Bran finds friends in fellow outcasts through her teenage years, and begins a complicated long-distance relationship with a hilariously pretentious college student. At the same time, she takes up screen-writing and somehow manages to get by, and find a sense of self and anchorage. Not only is Bran’s voice uniquely gripping, but she’s also mightily resilient and fiercely witty.

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
More reviews by Joanne Owen

About Avalon

Bran's Southern California upbringing is anything but traditional. After her mother abandons her and joins a Buddhist colony, Bran is raised by her 'common-law stepfather' on Bourdon Farms - a plant nursery that doubles as a cover for a biker gang. She spends her days tending plants, slogging through high school and imagining what life could be if she had been born to a different family.Then she meets Peter - a charming, troubled college student from the East Coast - who launches his teaching career by initiating her into the world of art. The two begin a seemingly doomed long-distance relationship as Bran searches for meaning in her own surroundings. She knows how to survive, but now she must learn how to live.'Avalon observes beautifully the shifting terrain of teenage intimacy: its intensity and its fragility . . . it's a hilarious, heartbreaking and - of course - extremely weird novel.' Sunday Times

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