Mekhti

Mekhti is a coming-of-age story and a novel of obsession. Reminiscent of Kathryn Harrison's The Kiss, Mekhti is a story of a girl trying to fill an emptiness in her life, and of how that experience changes her. A teenage girl is seduced by a man 20 years older than she. What does he mean to her? She to him? The force of this novel is carried by the girl's emotions. It begins, in fact, with loss-of family, of identity. And while the girl is the one seduced, Mekhti, her lover, has meaning for her beyond his sexuality. Their relationship, the author writes, "was like a cancer that grew and grew, invading every part of our lives and squeezing until nothing else was left. Simple relationships, like friend or boyfriend, are easy, you can replace them. But who could we ever find to reach into as many places in each other's lives?"

Amy Bassan The author entered the University of Washingto at age 16 and graduated at 19. She went to Moscow, Russia, where she taught English, then worked in the Seattle area as a medical interpreter. Many of her clients were Uzbek Jews from Samarkand. When she was 20, she wrote Mekhti. She is currently attending medical school.