Make the Dark Night Shine: A Zen Novel
“What is the sound of one heart breaking? Part travelogue, part history, part romance and part Zen meditation, Make the Dark Night Shine sweeps over the reader with overlapping waves of emotion.” –Viet Dinh
“Make the Dark Night Shine beams with honesty while it explores the creation of chosen families. At its core, this story is a sweeping journey highlighting our humanity and our deep need for home, love and acceptance.”—Corie Adjmi
Inspired by the author’s family history, Make the Dark Night Shine is a love letter from a father to the daughter he never met.
In 1919, Kenzo Uchida and his partner Mitsu arrive in Constantinople to open the new Japanese Consulate. Kenzo meets Elisa, a feisty Ukrainian cigarette girl in a nightclub and she becomes his consort to hide his gay relationship while in Europe. The unlikely trio begin an adventure in the decadence of post-war Paris until disaster strikes.
Returning to the growing militarism in Japan, Kenzo finds an unexpected path in Zen Buddhism. Yet no teachings prepare him for the revelations to come — about his life, his loves, and the events around him. On the eve of WWII, he discovers that he has a daughter living with Elisa in New York. He leaves the monastery on a perilous mission to promote peace with a secret plan to reunite with his daughter Nina.
Cinematic in scope, this novel lyrically captures the world on the brink of war. As Kenzo builds — and fights for — his chosen family, larger forces threaten all. Sweeping, meditative, and achingly beautiful, Make the Dark Night Shine explores the many worlds a life can inhabit, and the hidden worlds we find in ourselves.
Alan Lessik is a Berlin-based writer, Zen practitioner and amateur figure skater. His debut novel The Troubleseeker was short-listed for the Publishing Triangle’s 2017 Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction. With an interest in how novels preserve queer culture, he has been published on this and other topics by Lambda Literary, the Bay Area Reporter, and Advocate. He is a member of the Queer Creative Writing Group in Berlin. alanlessik.com
