Christopher Meeks’ Award-Winning Coming-of-Age Novel The Brightest Moon of the Century … Now Just 99 Cents on Kindle

In his fourth award-winning book, Christopher Meeks offers a comic and compassionate coming-of-age novel. A young Minnesotan, Edward, is blessed with an abundance of “experience”–first when his mother dies and next when his father, an encyclopedia salesman, shoehorns Edward into a private boys school where he’s tortured and groomed. He needs a place in the universe, but he wants an understanding of women.

Edward stumbles into romance in high school, careens through dorm life in college, whirls into a tornado of love problems as a mini-mart owner in a trailer park in Alabama, and aims for a film career in Los Angeles.

In nine chapters, the reader experiences Edward’s life from ages 14 to 45. This novel follows Meeks’s highly acclaimed collections of short stories, The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons.

Carmela Ciuraru wrote in the Los Angeles Times Book Review of Meeks’s first book, “This idea resonates throughout the collection: Meeks’s characters seek happiness in the small things because they have no choice … [The stories] are poignant and wise, sympathetic to the everyday struggles these characters face.”

Author and humorist Sandra Tsing Loh has said, “Christopher Meeks’s quirky stories are lyrical and wonderfully human. Enjoy.”

“Christopher Meeks captures life’s unpredictability while retaining a message of the hope that inspires us all.” -Meghan Burton, Medieval Bookworm

“In his debut novel, The Brightest Moon of the Century, Christopher Meeks chronicles one man’s path to middle age and, in doing so, illustrates how choices and circumstances — even those that seem arbitrary at the time — have a way of irrevocably cementing a person’s future.” -Cherie Parker, Minnneapolis Star Tribune

“Charming and endlessly entertaining, The Brightest Moon of the Century is a fine read that is an excellent addition to literary fiction collections.” -Midwest Book Review  

“Edward is endearingly real, and readers will be rooting for him in every situation. The Brightest Moon of the Century will appeal to readers across genders and generations.” -Dawn Rennert, She Is Too Fond of Books  

“Christopher Meeks’ work is joyful, funny and sensitive. The Brightest Moon of the Century is a satisfying read and one which made me hope that Meeks will continue to write novels.”    -Wendy Robards, Piker Press

I couldn’t be happier with the reception to this, my first novel. Two years later, I just read Jennifer Egan’s wonderful novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad, and I see that her book and mine share a similar idea of a novel in stories. My book happens to go chronologically, but you’ll read as my main character goes from 14 into his forties. There’s a whole life there.

Recently, I was able to get the seven photos that are in the printed version of The Brightest Moon of the Century into a new Kindle version of the book. I’d been inspired by Sara Gruen’s use of photos in Water for Elephants, so you can see glimpses of Edward’s world in his past.