The Essence of Nathan Biddle

The Essence of Nathan Biddle is a coming-of-age novel set in the American South in the 1950s. Narrator Kit Biddle, near the end of his high school career, finds himself tangled in a web of family secrets, including a crazy uncle who hears God and literally sacrifices (murders) his own son, Kit's cousin-landing him in a mental institution. Kit is also vexed by the pressing questions that haunt all teenagers: Who am I? Why am I here? When Anna, the beautiful, brilliant object of his affections, rejects him, Kit spirals into despair. Even his witty best friend, Lichtman, is of no help. Kit's impulsive decision to steal the golf club's maintenance truck one night and speed down the highway ends in a horrific accident and months of convalescence, including interesting hours spent in a therapist's office where Kit tries to piece his life together. Yet tragedy leads to light in this gentle tale; even a new girlfriend appears. "It was calamity that gave me a moment of pause, an occasion for reassessment and redirection. I suffered both a breakdown and a breakthrough," Kit says near the end of his ordeal. Readers will rejoice as Kit closes in on answers to his search for the meaning of life