Lebanon has spat out its residents and watched as they struggle to make homes in lands that aren’t their own. In 1980’s Auburn, Cyrus lives from the pages of his books to revive his memories, at the expense of living. Naomi avoids her Uncle’s house, the cousin she was meant to marry. She works to keep her memories at bay, in order to live. Both are selective in what they choose to remember, Lebanon watches on, pained. Brought together by an alcoholic, a lost prostitute, crumbling marriages and a letter.
About Year of the Novella program: Over the course of 2018, a select group of young writers was invited to take part in a year-long writing program at the Story Factory. Their goal was to produce not just a fistful of poems, or a story, or a script, but a fully realised novella. The volunteers working with our budding novelists were there not so much as tutors but as mentors and peers, offering help and support while writing a novella of their own. This is one of the novellas produced in these workshops.