Alycia Ripley's debut novel, Traveling With An Eggplant, is a unique and deceptive re-imagining of Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz: a surreal world of music, magic, ghosts, and the state of modern romance. Music journalist Alison Olson finds herself wandering the college campus she attended years earlier. As her memories resurface and she remembers a cryptic comment from her favorite singer, Elvis Costello, she begins a story of three hardships: her rise through the ranks of a music magazine, a strange friendship with Seymour, an emotionally unavailable neuroscientist, and the fact that her mind is a "receiver"- one allowing songs and voices to broadcast inside her head. The complicated relationship between Alison and Seymour examines whether we can change our true natures and forces Alison to confront a childhood monster in order to avoid a horrible tragedy. What exactly happened? Where do dreams end and a parallel universe begin? The narrative explores a world where anything is possible and the implausible is the norm. Surrounded by a constant 1980's pop soundtrack, it is mediation on wish fulfillment, destiny, and heroism while proving the age-old adage that you sometimes have to lose yourself before you can find anything.
Traveling With An Eggplant is a unique reading experience...Ripley weaves an imaginative story that brings to life a character so vivid and strong that readers will feel she is standing right next to them..
-Sarah Mullin, WNY Women's News
Traveling With An Eggplant is an incredibly bizarre book yet so beautifully written that you never feel confused...it takes you on a journey from the present to the past to the dream world and back again...Ripley does a splendid job of writing a novel that not only acts as an escape, but as a catalyst for examining our own lives.
-Danielle Feliciano for Reader Views
American author Alycia Ripley writes about old loves and conquering demons while using real life Guelph, Ontario as the backdrop...the flavor of the city is seen as safe, diverse, beautiful, and musical by its outsider author whose first novel may just boost tourism for Guelph, the City of Music...
-Guelph Mercury
