“Years old and never drained of its yolk, the egg smelled rancid, like sulfur, when it cracked…Will my heart also reek when it shatters and releases everything that has been rotting there?”
Aspiring young artist Veda asks herself this question after dropping Baba’s pysanka, a traditional Ukrainian Easter egg. Constantly overcome by the noise in her head, Veda can’t seem to loosen her grip from anything beyond her control. A hesitant and sometimes misguided journey to develop her talent for visual art eventually opens Veda’s passage to self-acceptance and maturity.
The Prescribed Burn is a novel-in-stories. Follow Veda from ages 13-24 through 15 of the most significant moments that shaped her growth as an artist. You’ll meet her at both her best and sometimes most unlikable worst: making a home for a pet bird that plucks its feathers, undressing before her classmates just moments after the fall of the World Trade Center, imagining nuclear disasters while driving on the Garden State Parkway with her best friend Madsy, stretching in preparation for the loss of her virginity to boyfriend Arthur, shaving her legs for the first time at Ukrainian summer camp, and arguing with a man who sends messages in bottles across the Hudson River.
Veda is naïve yet introspective, paranoid and obsessive yet drawn to detail, indecisive yet open-minded, emotionally capricious yet passionate. She’s not afraid to share her sometimes-conflicting thoughts with the hope of finding growth and guidance. To learn more about Veda, read the sample story “Fireworks” or enter your name and e-mail address in the fields on the right side of this page to receive updates.