As her community suffers a long season of drought, sixteen-year-old Cielle endures a more personal calamity: the unexpected death of her father. On a balmy summer afternoon, she finds him hanging in the barn—the start of a dark secret that threatens her family’s livelihood. A war rages elsewhere, while in the deceptive calm of the American heartland, Cielle’s family contends with a new reality and fights not to be undone. Based on an award-winning short story, The Driest Season creates a moving portrait of Cielle’s struggle to make sense of her father’s time on earth, and of her own. Debut novelist Meghan Kenny tells, with wisdom and grit, a deeply affecting story of a young woman discovering loss, heartache, and—finally—hope.
Author
Meghan Kenny was raised in Connecticut and New Hampshire. She received her BA in English and creative writing from Kenyon College, and her MFA in fiction from Boise State University. She was the 2008-2009 Tickner Fellow at the Gilman School, a Bernard O'Keefe Scholar at Bread Loaf, a Peter Taylor Fellow at The Kenyon Review Writers' Workshop, and has held residencies at Vermont Studio Center and La Muse in France. She has lived in France, Japan, and Peru, and has taught writing and literature to grades 4-12 for Writers in the Schools Program in Idaho, Writers at Harriman, Gerstell Academy, Gilman School, Boise State University, Towson University, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Gotham Writers' Workshop online. She currently teaches at Lancaster Country Day School in Pennsylvania. Her stories have appeared in literary journals such as The Gettysburg Review, Cincinnati Review, and Hobart, among others. She was awarded the 2005 Iowa Review Award for her story, "The Driest Season", which was a Pushcart Prize Special Mention, and her story "Heartbreak Hotel" won 2nd place in Glimmer Train's 2012 Fiction Open. She has written a novel titled Away Toward Home and a short story collection titled Love is No Small Thing, and is seeking publication for both books.
