(Hardcover) (Paperback)
Kimi Eisele
The Lightest Object in the Universe
(Algonquin Books, Hardcover July 2019, Paperback June 2020)
Nominated for the 2020 MPIBA Reading the West Books Awards: Adult Fiction
One of Real Simple‘s Best Books of 2019
An Alta Favorite Book of 2019
An ABA Indies Introduce Summer/Fall 2019 Selection
An Indies Next July 2019 Pick
A Summer 2019 B&N Discover Great New Writers selection
One of Parade Magazine‘s “7 Books to Binge Before the Return of The Handmaid’s Tale”
One of Nylon‘s “9 Great New Books to Read This July”
Listed on Reader’s Digest‘s “15 Best Summer Books to Read in 2019”
One of The Millions‘s Most Anticipated Books of 2019
Featured in BookRiot’s “New Release Tuesday” video
A LibraryJournal recommendation
One of Real Simple‘s “Best Books of 2019 (So Far)”
Featured on Alta‘s Fall 2019 Book Guide
Recommended by Book Riot: “Why Reading Pandemic Lit Gives Me Hope”
If the grid went down, how would you find someone on the other side of the country? How would you find hope?
After a global economic collapse and failure of the electrical grid, amid escalating chaos, Carson, a high school teacher of history who sees history bearing out its lessons all around him, heads west on foot toward Beatrix, a woman he met and fell hard for during a chance visit to his school. Working his way along a cross-country railroad line, he encounters lost souls, clever opportunists, and those who believe they’ll be delivered from hardship if they can find their way to the evangelical preacher Jonathan Blue, who is broadcasting on all the airwaves countrywide. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Beatrix and her neighbors turn to one another for food, water, and solace, and begin to construct the kind of cooperative community that suggests the end could, in fact, be a promising beginning.
But between Beatrix and Carson lie 3,000 miles. With no internet or phone or postal service, can they find their way back to each other, and what will be left of their world when they do? The answers may lie with fifteen-year-old Rosie Santos, who travels reluctantly with her grandmother to Jonathan Blue, finding her voice and making choices that could ultimately decide the fate of the cross-country lovers.
The Lightest Object in the Universe is a story about reliance and adaptation, a testament to the power of community and a chronicle of moving on after catastrophic loss, illustrating that even in the worst of times, our best traits, borne of necessity, can begin to emerge.
Praise for The Lightest Object in the Universe
“This is Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain crossed with Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven. Filled with luminous writing and messages of love and hope, this story will motivate everyone to sharpen their ham radio skills.”
—Library Journal
“A near-future apocalypse forms the backdrop for an intense, moving romance in Eisele’s smart debut… Fans of Station Eleven will particularly enjoy this hopeful vision of a postapocalyptic world where there is danger, but also the possibility for ideas to spread, community to blossom, and people to not just survive, but thrive.”
—Publishers Weekly
“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 Phantoms
“Post-apocalyptic stories are all the rage, but Kimi Eisele’s novel is a rarity. Her people don’t merely wander across a blighted wasteland; they form communities, till the soil, send their voices into the ether, and cling tenaciously to hope. The Lightest Object in the Universe is a triumphant story for anyone with a shred of faith left in the human spirit.”
—David McGlynn, author of One Day You’ll Thank Me, A Door in the Ocean and The End of the Straight and Narrow
“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 The Dress Lodger, and Witches on the Road Tonight
“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
“What a pleasure to read a hopeful post-apocalyptic novel that demonstrates that love still matters and that new communities can form by taking the best of the knowledge that we have collected and putting it together to start to rebuild society in a thoughtful way. With both head and heart, The Lightest Object in the Universe, is a story that will stick with you.”
—Jessica Osborne, E. Shaver, Bookseller, Savannah, GA
“The Lightest Object in the Universe is a hopeful, heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel set in a world where half the population has been killed by a widespread flu and electricity and running water are a thing of the past. Mini societies and gangs have formed in this new America, and in the center of the country, the leader of a large, mysterious cult takes to the radio to call his followers to join him. Amid the chaos, two lovers separated by the continent try to find each other and make a new life in the darkness. This was a great novel about building community from nothing, fighting the odds for people you love, and the power of storytelling to overcome the darkness. It’s a perfect book for fans of Station Eleven and anyone who finds the idea of uplifting post-apocalyptic novels a fascinating concept.”
—Elissa Sweet, Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT
“Can a dystopian novel be both clear-eyed and tender? For anyone inclined to think, no, I urge them to pick up Kimi Eisele’s novel, which imagines the end of the world as being more like the end of the world as most Americans know it, and the beginning of something new, something that is not without hope… [Carson’s and Beatrix’s] journeys, both literal and otherwise, offer an enlightening, though never precious perspective on what it means to rebuild something, rather than just wallow in destruction. It’s a story of hope, resilience, and being human.”
—Nylon
“In between its themes of resilience and survival, Eisele weaves a love story, with main character Carson trying to find his way back to Beatrix, the woman he loves.”
—Reader’s Digest
“Kimi Eisele’s debut novel, The Lightest Object In The Universe, might be the most optimistic post-apocalyptic story ever written. It’s Sleepless In Seattle meets Station Eleven.”
—AV Club
“Absolutely glorious. Gorgeously written, unnerving, and also one of the most moving love stories I’ve read.”
—Caroline Leavitt
“In The Lightest Object in the Universe, author Kimi Eisele explores how humanity would have to evolve, relying on hope and love to ultimately sustain humankind.”
—Associated Press
“The real trick to an apocalypse novel is that it’s never about an imaginary dystopia; it’s always a reflection of our existing society; it’s always an interrogation of who we already are and what we already value. Which is perhaps why Eisele’s novel is so meaningful—it’s a reminder that, no matter how dire things seem, there is always tenderness in this world, there is always empathy, there is always the ability to come together and make something new.”
—Kristin Iversen, NYLON
“Kimi Eisele’s debut novel, The Lightest Object in the Universe, is a love story set against the background of societal apocalypse—which means it is a narrative of hope in the face of despair. Eisele, an author and artist living in Tucson, Arizona, is compelled more by how extreme circumstances bring us together than by how they pry us apart.”
—Alta
“Eisele’s writing shines most when she’s exploring landscapes — no surprise, since she’s a geographer as well as an artist — and the emotional pull between Beatrix and Carson.”
–High Country News
“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 imagines what happens after the global economy collapses and the electrical grid goes down.”
–Chicago Review of Books
“A compellingly realistic depiction of the world after the collapse of civilization, although at its heart, it is a love story told in the vein of Cold Mountain…The Lightest Object in the Universe is an intriguing and engrossing debut novel that will leave readers thinking about their own ability to survive, their own capacity for love, and their willingness to face catastrophe with hope.”
—New York Journal of Books
Featured on Powell’s Books’ “22 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2019”
Read Publishers Weekly‘s review of THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE
Read the ABA Indies Introduce Summer/Fall 2019 Selection announcement
Featured on The Millions‘ “Tuesday New Release Day”
Featured on Tor.com’s list of “All the New Genre Bending Books Coming in July”
Read Kimi Eisele’s essay “When the World Matches the Apocalypse in Your Novel” for LitHub
Caroline Leavitt interviews Kimi Eisele about her novel THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE
THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE is included on Spine Magazine‘s “Can’t Wait to Read” list by Erika Swyler (Light from Others, The Book of Speculation)
Read Kimi Eisele’s interview with Paul Semel
Read The AV Club‘s review of THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE
Read the Indies Introduce Q&A with Kimi Eisele
Read Kimi Eisele’s essay and list “Thirteen Ways Inside My Apocalyptic Heart” for LitHub
Read the Associated Press review of THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE
Read Kimi Eisele’s interview in the Arizona Daily Star
Read Kimi Eisele’s essay “I Wanted to Write a Book and Have a Baby but Only One of Those Things Happened” for Bustle
Read Kimi Eisele’s interview with NYLON
Read Ravishly‘s interview with Kimi Eisele
Read an excerpt of THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE on Alta
Read High Country News‘s review of THE LIGHEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE
Listen to Kimi Eisele’s interview on LiteraryHub‘s First Draft podcast
Featured on Chicago Review of Books‘ list of “12 Small-Press Fantasy, SciFi, and Speculative Books You May Have Missed”
Alta Magazine interviews Kimi Eisele
Kimi Eisele is a writer and multidisciplinary artist. Her writing has appeared in Orion, High Country News, Terrain.org, and Fourth Genre, and has covered art, the environment, health, culture, youth, and the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. A dancer/choreographer, Eisele’s performance work explores human-nature relationships and often involves storytelling and public participation in site-specific venues. She holds a master’s degree in geography from the University of Arizona, and has taught creative writing and dance in schools, communities, and institutions for two decades. The recipient of numerous awards and residencies, she currently lives in Tucson and works for the Southwest Folklife Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating traditional knowledge and cultural expression.