Press

“…don’t evade Eggs for Young America, or you’ll miss a remarkably assured book by a wise and provocative writer.” — “Dirty Work,” Tom Drury, The New York Times.

“A symbol of both rebirth and fragility, the egg is the perfect emblem for this collection of lost souls, who manage to be both desperate and full of hope.  Hester explores the intricacies of their emotional lives with a sensitivity that borders on reverence… [a] powerful debut.” — Publishers Weekly.

“Powerful, frank studies of despair in the midst of decay: crystallizations of what’s left when the American dream dries up and blows away.” — Kirkus Reviews.

“Eggs for Young America is Katherine L. Hester’s probing look into the modern myths of middle-class America. The stories are set in the 1970s and early ’80s, and her fearless, honest prose investigates the lives of people struggling for independence, strength and security.” — The Chicago Tribune

“The eight stories in Hester’s first collection come highly recommended…”  — Library Journal.

“Last year, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference of Middlebury College began supporting the publication of first books with an annual open competition …. The 1996 Katharine Bakeless Nason Literary Publication Prize [for fiction] went to Katherine L. Hester for her short-story collection Eggs for Young America. What Francine Prose, who served as judge, deserves is her own award for possessing such an excellent eye; what Katherine Hester deserves is an audience grateful for a fresh voice in Southern fiction.” — “Hard Times. Fragile Lives.” Leonard Gill, Weekly Wire.

“Katherine Hester’s short stories neatly weave layers of a near-forgotten American South with the familiar realities of life in the region today.” — Blue Ridge Now.