Now in paperback! Named one of NPR Weekend Edition’s Best (and funniest) Books of 2020!
From Simon & Schuster, a hilarious debut novel about an eclectic group of merchants at a Kansas antique mall who become implicated in the kidnapping of a local beauty pageant star.
Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist!
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The city of Wichita, Kansas, is wracked with panic over the abduction of toddler pageant princess Lindy Bobo. However, the dealers at The Heart of America Antique Mall are too preoccupied by their own neurotic compulsions to take much notice. Postcards, perfume bottles, Barbies, vinyl records, kitschy neon beer signs—they collect and sell it all.
Rather than focus on Lindy, this colorful cast of characters is consumed by another drama: the impending arrival of Mark and Grant from the famed antiques television show Pickin’ Fortunes, who are planning to film an episode at The Heart of America and secretly may be the last best hope of saving the mall from bankruptcy. Yet the mall and the missing beauty queen have more to do with each other than these vendors might think, and before long, the group sets in motion a series of events that lead to surprising revelations about Lindy’s whereabouts. As the mall becomes implicated in her disappearance, will Mark and Grant be scared away from all of the drama or will they arrive in time to save The Heart of America from going under?
Equally comical and suspenseful, Heart of Junk is also a biting commentary on our current Marie Kondo era. It examines why certain objects resonate with us so deeply, rebukes Kondo’s philosophy of wholesale purging, and argues that “junk” can have great value—connecting us not only to our personal pasts but to our shared human history. As author Luke Geddes writes: “A collection was a record of a life lived, maybe not well or happily but at least with attention and passion. It was autobiography made whole.”
Praise:
“Geddes walks an edgy tightrope with some of the material, particularly the Lindy story, but his antic comic touch saves the novel from sinking into darkness, and he offers even his most misguided characters the opportunity to bumble towards redemption. This one’s a quirky treat for fans of flyover state humor.”
— Starred and boxed review in Publishers Weekly!
*
“The writing here is hilarious and poignant, inviting belly laughs and thoughtful, genuinely moving introspection on how what we collect comes to define us.”
*
“Heart Of Junk is a story that's full of wit and packed with nostalgia - highly recommend for any fellow pack rats out there.”
— NPR’s Weekend Edition “Best of 2020”
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“Publishing that book, that’s a big thing!”
— Richard Karn (Al Borland from Home Improvement)
*
“A collection of wonderfully warped characters is on display in this dark, entertaining comedy.”
*
“Luke Geddes has written something truly wonderful with Heart of Junk. His tender portrayal of each uniquely strange character who inhabits the Heart of America Antique Mall is strengthened by such perfect comedic timing. As Geddes digs deeper and deeper into a world most people would ignore, he finds real treasure, something beautiful and life-affirming.”
— Kevin Wilson, author of The Family Fang and Nothing to See Here
*
“Geddes is a master of humor. Heart of Junk deftly explores the loneliness of the human condition through a dazzling spectrum of characters. You will laugh 'till you cry, and cry 'till you laugh. This book is an instant cult classic. Meet your new favorite author.”
— Alissa Nutting, author of Made for Love and Tampa
*
“The heart of America may very well be a heart of junk, but Luke Geddes slyly transforms our material obsessions into a very funny and surprising page-turner of a novel. I loved getting to know this nutty group of hapless citizens, made possible by Geddes’s shrewd and pitch-perfect writing."
— Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen
*
“This is a sharp and wicked novel, astute in its exploration of the collector’s psyche and the value--both emotional and monetary--of American junk. Luke Geddes puts all of damaged humanity inside a Midwestern antiques mall, and he documents the escalating drama with savage affection.”
— Chris Bachelder, author of National Book Award finalist The Throwback Special
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“Geddes’s debut is a surreal, hilarious, but humane reckoning with America today: its consumerism, its culture, its nostalgia, its crap. A must-read for the hoarder in us all.”
— Jen Beagin, author of Pretend I’m Dead and Vacuum in the Dark
*
"A fantastic debut, full of the kinds of Midwestern characters I don't see often enough in fiction, and plentiful with astonishing surprises, impeccable research, humor, and heart."
— J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest and The Lager Queen of Minnesota
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"A hilarious novel that reads like a Christopher Guest movie set in an antiques mall. (Think Best in Show but with porcelain dogs!)"
— Country Living
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“Perhaps fiction is better poised to treat our neuroses with nuance. Heart of Junk, a recent novel by Luke Geddes, trains a poignant eye on the messy human intimacies and defenses contained within the act of collecting.”
— The Baffler
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"A hilarious debut."
— Sentinel-Tribune
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"Enjoyable deep dives into the musty subculture of antique selling...quirky."
— Wall Street Journal
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"Entertaining...There's comedy and warmth in Luke Geddes' new novel, Heart Of Junk."
— Around Cincinnati (WVXU)
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"'Heart of Junk' is a comically dark, quirky treat, and one that Wichita readers in particular will treasure."
— Wichita Public Radio (KMUW)
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"A clever, sharp book with lots of intriguing, well-drawn characters.”
— Mystery People
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"Equal parts eccentric and curious, Heart of Junk is a slice-of-life read that satirizes our society's obsessions with "stuff" and raises the question of what makes something valuable...Geddes does not disappoint."
— Bookbrowse
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"[A] hilarious debut novel...If you’ve ever enjoyed the thrill of the hunt for an object that others might find useless, this is the book for you."
— Westword
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"The standout touch of this novel is the hilarity of which Geddes writes with. His comic touch propels this novel into a story that will please the masses."
— Debutiful
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"At last! The crime fiction refutation of Marie Kondo’s minimalist philosophy we’ve all been waiting for."
— Crime Reads