Black Dog - Paperback

by Erica Kent (Author)

In Erica Kent's evocative novel Black Dog, we journey through the turbulent landscapes of adolescence, loss, and the blurry lines between reality and dream. It's 1980, and eleven-year-old Jessica Ryder wakes up to discover that John Lennon has been killed. In a misguided effort to assuage her grief, her father shares a beer with her, marking the beginning of a years-long dance with drugs and booze that will lead her down a harrowing, and sometimes darkly humorous, path. Jessica's full of contradictions: irreverent but romantic, smart but short-sighted, damaged but resilient. She grapples with the weight of tragedy and life, scrapes bottom, and finally discovers the elusive route to recovery, along with a hard truth: the black dog of addiction doesn't die. Both shadows and shafts of light cut through Jessica's story as it spans across the 1980's. Kent's lyrical prose and poignant storytelling create a haunting and unforgettable portrait of growing up in a world both chaotic and beautiful.

Author Biography

Erica Kent is a winner of the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards Program. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has appeared in StoryQuarterly, The Brooklyn Rail, Conium Review, among other publications. She is the recipient of scholarships from Marilyn Moss Rockefeller and James S. Rockefeller, Jr., Iota Short Forms, the Maine Writers and Publishers Association, and Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Portland, Maine with her family and chunky bulldog. You can find her at ericakent.com