u.p.

From a bold new novelist comes a complex tale of friendship and brutality. Set in Michigan s Upper Peninsula, U.P. is the story of four teens immersed in an ugly world, one whose threat of violence is always simmering beneath the surface. R.A. Riekki s distinctive characters and their poignant quest for freedom is a swan song to lost youth, redefining the traditional coming-of- age-story. Four boys, four distinct narratives that converge into a harrowing and heartbreaking whole.

Born in Marquette, R.A. Riekki has studied writing at Central Michigan, Brandeis, Virginia, and Western Michigan. U.P. was nominated by John Casey for the Sewanee Writers' Series.