Hard-shelled, career-minded Greta is the newest and least likely member of a sustainable foods cooperative house in Madison, Wisconsin. Shortly after she joins Karin and Hal in their stately residence near campus, the husband Greta left appears on their porch, drunk, and the reason for her sudden appearance becomes clear. Yet the house members already have plenty to occupy them: a series of summer blackouts has unearthed a disquietude lurking just under the surface for each of the three residents. Gas is dwindling, electricity is unreliable, and the natural world around them is in upheaval. The uneasiness of the environ ment mirrors that of Greta, Hal, and Karin as they each make efforts to resolve their own personal crises. With subtle attunement to the hovering uncertainty affecting each of her characters, Wildgen crafts a story both terrifying and beautiful.
Michelle Wildgen is the author of the novels But Not For Long and You're Not You, as well as the editor of the anthology Food & Booze: A Tin House Literary Feast. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, O, the Oprah Magazine, Best Food Writing, Best New American Voices, and several anthologies, including Death by Pad Thai, Naming the World, and Dirty Words.
Madison, Wisconsin, is the setting of both her novels, and after seven years in New York Michelle recently returned to Wisconsin in order to be one of those overjoyed shoppers who linger at the farmers markets, engaging passersby in conversations about shallots. She writes about memorable food and nervous people. Despite varying degrees of success at making her own mozzarella, she remains committed to the fantasy that she may some day become decent at it.
