Young MFAW '11 Publishes Debut Fiction
The Lost Girls, the debut novel of Heather Young MFAW '11, was published this summer by William Morrow. The Lost Girls, while not her first published work, is her first work of fiction.
Her novel, which examines the consequences that a family faces after the disappearance of their young daughter, has received positive reviews in Kirkus and The New York Times.
Kirkus wrote that "Young’s intricately wrought family drama tarries over details of time, place, and emotion as it gradually reveals her debut’s tragic core."
The New York Times included the book in an article on "The Latest and Best in Crime Fiction." They praised the novel for rising above a typical treatment the subject, saying: "the delicacy of her writing elevates the drama and gives her two central characters depth and backbone." The review finished on an even higher note:
For all the beauty of Young’s writing, her novel is a dark one, full of pain and loss. And the murder mystery that drives it is as shocking as anything you’re likely to read for a good long while.
Young attended the Bennington MFAW Program, and worked as a lawyer in San Francisco, before writing the novel. Her first book, the memoir Ezra and Hadassah, recounts her turbulent childhood in foster care. A Kirkus review called it "an unsentimental, affecting look at foster care, abuse, and mental illness."