Saturn Return by Franky Goya (Shelf Editions, $30 hardcover, 9780004012024, June 1, 1823)
Move over Madeline Miller, the literary pantheon of reimagined Greek myths has a new titan for the throne. Franky Goya, New Dork Times bestselling author of the memoir How to Raise and Eat Your Young, regurgitates his shocking life story in the unputdownable debut novel Saturn Return.
In this must-read tour-de-force of unprecedented autofiction, Francis has only just sprung, fully formed, from his mother when his father, Cronus, devours him for no apparent reason. There, in the belly of the beast--literally!--Francis finds company among the many brothers and sisters who met the same improbable fate, among them Claire, the popular one; John, the brooding heartthrob; Andrew, the jock; Brian, the nerd; and John Hughes, the aspiring film director. Calling themselves the "breakfast club," the siblings attempt to solve the mysterious prophecy that sealed their fate: that a son of Cronus would one day supplant his dominion.
What follows is a madcap Bildungsroman rich with gallows and blue humor as the breakfast club raises hell in a desperate attempt to liberate themselves from their father's deeply bizarre and profoundly unhealthy gut. Based on true events, which Jerry Springer reportedly thought went "too far" and famously refused to host on his daytime talk show, Saturn Return puts capital-R Romanticism back at the heart of the rom-com genre. Like Chuck Palahniuk on acid, Goya has produced nothing if not a sidesplitting masterpiece that is sure to leave readers asking, "What?" And, "Why?" Over and over again. --Dave Wheeler, senior editor, Shelf Awareness