New novel brings Chernobyl experience vividly to life

A novel by Darragh McKeon,  All That Is Solid Melts Into Air, has been published in the U.S. by Harper Collins and will be featured at a Beyond Nuclear special book event on Monday, May 19th at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC.  

A theater director by profession, McKeon spent eight years shaping his debut novel. It follows the stories of four primary characters during the unfolding Chernobyl reactor disaster and the fall of the Soviet Union. Yevgeni is a child piano prodigy living in Moscow; his aunt, Maria, a former dissident journalist, now works in a factory; Maria’s ex-husband Grigory, a talented surgeon, leaves Moscow to treat Chernobyl victims; and another young boy, Artyom, is evacuated from his rural home close to the stricken reactor.

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air is McKeon’s first novel. Originally from Ireland and now living in New York, he was inspired after Chernobyl Children International, an organization created and led by Adi Roche, began bringing children harmed by the aftermath of the nuclear disaster to his home town for “radiation vacations.” 

The book has been praised by fellow Irish writers, Colm Toíbín and Colum McCann and described in reviews as “powerful and moving” and “a supremely accomplished social novel.” An essay accompanying the book describes McKeon’s personal experience visiting Ukraine and Belarus.

McKeon will read from his searingly beautiful novel set during and after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster as the Soviet Union crumbles. The event, hosted by Beyond Nuclear, will take place in the Langston Room of the Busboys & Poets restaurant and bookstore at 2021 14th St. NW, from 7pm-9pm. It is free and open to the public.

Photographs from the Chernobyl region, by Gabriela Bulišová, will be projected onto the big screen before the reading. See the artist's statement here, and the photo captions here.

Copies of the book can be purchased at any time from the Busboys bookstore. It is published by Harper Collins and is also available through various online outlets. McKeon will sign books and answer questions after the talk.

Update on May 5, 2014 by admin

And read McKeon's remarkable essay about his visit to the region. Please circulate the event invitation to your lists.

Update on August 10, 2014 by admin

Anthony Marra has published a favorable book review in the New York Times, featuring the graphic art of Alex Nabaum.