Aurora
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Authors
Garcia, Donna Linzy
Issue Date
2020
Type
Thesis
Language
Keywords
fiction , identity , novel , sex , sexuality , shame
Alternative Title
Abstract
Aurora Lake is a small town nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains whose very existence depends on summer tourism to the lake the town surrounds, and winter tourism to the nearby ski resorts just over the pass. Aurora Lake is known by tourists for its family-run businesses passed down from generation to generation; those born in town grow up together, and many remain, living off the teat of tourism. As a one-road, no stop-light town life is different �" and Leah Acker is back after 7 years. Now twenty-seven, Leah has no reason to return, except for her childhood best friend’s wedding. She returns apprehensively, still struggling with a secret she has carried with her since she was 16: an affair with her math teacher, Jonah Andrews. Jonah left town before they were discovered, but she knows rumors, suspicion, and secrets are still alive and well. While celebrating the wedding, Leah meets 19-year-old Mallory Sloane, who is in Aurora Canyon after his brother, Erik, was arrested for assault and revealed his bisexuality. Whether home is a person or place, Leah and Mallory are about to find out they can’t outrun their pasts.Aurora seeks to unearth the shame embedded in identity and the past, in order to understand how relationships and trauma dictate and impact our lives. Through multiple points of view, Aurora, asks the reader to confront the complexity of people, sexuality, relationships, and trauma.