The Dragon Keeper: A Novel
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—Twin Cities Pioneer Press"Mejia beautifully tackles the subjects of animal captivity, endangered animals, human-animal connections, and even evolution."
—Global Animal"This is a thriller of the rarest form—one that touches both the mind and the heart. A wonderful read."
—Mary Logue, author of the Claire Watkins mysteries"…impressive…ambitious…Mindy Mejia is a talent to watch."
—Sheila O'Connor, author of Where No Gods Came and Sparrow Road
A zookeeper fights to save the animal she loves, even as her own life crumbles around her…
Meg Yancy knows she may be overly attached to Jata, the Komodo dragon that has been in her care since it arrived at the zoo from Indonesia. Jata brings the exotic to Meg’s Minnesotan life: an ancient, predatory history and stories of escaping to freedom. A species that became endangered soon after being discovered, Komodos have a legacy of independence, something that Meg understands all too well. Meg has always been better able to relate to reptiles than to people, from her estranged father to her live-in boyfriend to the veterinarian who is more concerned with his career than with the animals’ lives.
Then one day, Meg makes an amazing discovery. Jata has produced viable eggs—without ever having had a mate. Faced with this rare phenomenon, Meg must now defend Jata’s hatchlings from the scientific, religious, and media forces that converge on the zoo to claim the miracle as their own.
Finally forced to deal with the very people she has avoided for so long, Meg discovers that opening herself up comes with its own complications. And as she fights to save the animal she loves from the consequences of its own miracle, she must learn to accept that in nature, as in life, not everything can be controlled.
Mindy Mejia’s gripping debut novel highlights the perils of captivity and the astonishing ways in which animals evolve.
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Mindy Mejia was born and raised in a small-town-turned-suburb in the Twin Cities area. She received a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MFA from Hamline University. Other than brief interludes in Iowa City and Galway, she’s lived and worked in Minnesota her entire life.
Mindy generally focuses her fiction writing on the novel, though she also writes short stories, which have appeared in rock, paper, scissors; Things Japanese: An Anthology of Short Stories; and THIS Literary Magazine.
The Dragon Keeper is Mindy’s debut novel. She’s currently working on a murder mystery set in rural southern Minnesota. Click here to visit Mindy's website, and check out this Q&A with Mindy on Komodo dragons, writing, and more.
