Description: "Incomparable...because of its bravery, its wisdom, its vitality, and because it's a novel that never stops haunting." --Junot Díaz
Brief description: ALEXANDER CHEE is the author of the novels Edinburgh and the national bestseller The Queen of the Night. His essay collection How to Write an Autobiographical Novel was named a best book of the year in 2018 by New York Magazine, the Washington Post, Publisher's Weekly, NPR, and Time. In 2025, Kirkus Reviews named it one of the hundred best books of nonfiction of the 21st century. Chee is a recipient of the NEA Fellowship in Fiction, The Whiting Award, The Guggenheim and The USA Artists' Fellowship. He teaches creative writing at Dartmouth College and lives in Vermont.
Review Quotes:
"A coming-of-age novel in the grand Romantic tradition, where passions run high, Cupid stalks Psyche, and love shares the dance floor with death . . . A lovely, nuanced, never predictable portrait of a creative soul in the throes of becoming." - Washington Post Book World
"Haunting . . . complex . . . sophisticated . . . [Chee] says volumes with just a few incendiary words." - New York Times Book Review
"Chee describes [Fee's] desperate adolescent moments with heartbreaking clarity and grace . . . Few coming-of-age novels truly stir one's emotions or lead readers to consider the traumas of their own lives. Edinburgh does both." - Newsday