Lea

by Ella Young

The novel follows the growth of a young student - Lea, and her confrontation with life and its challenges. At first glance, it's an ordinary story of an ordinary girl, but in the background of her personal story is the disintegration of a country (Yugoslavia) and wars, which leads to the intertwining of individual development and social disintegration. The struggle between light and darkness, grayness, clouds, depression, loss of self-confidence, and attempts to regain it - those and much more color Lea's life during her four years of law studies. How to survive in something that crumbles and disappears is a constant question that torments Lea. She tries to answer it in different ways - by denying, reminiscence of her childhood, anger at herself, anger at her passivity, seeking comfort in her illness, and putting herself back together. The characters around her face "new society" differently, like Hayley seeking solace in parties and men, and others like Mark accepting what is desirable and then panicking and silently searching for alternatives. Opportunism or open confrontation? No character is immune from one or the other, not even Lea, whose ground she walks slips away while she clings frantically to studying and books as a straw of salvation in the overall whirlwind. Ultimately, she will be rewarded for her efforts, but at what cost? There is also Katherine, the reflection of society in an individual and a spotlight that simultaneously attracts and repels, as well as the questions of law in injustice, morality in immorality, an individual in the collective, and life in death.

345 pages, Paperback

Published March 9, 2026

About the author

Ella Young was an Irish poet and Celtic mythologist active in the Gaelic and Celtic Revival literary movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. Born in Ireland, Young was an author of poetry and children's books. She emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1925 as a temporary visitor and lived in California. For five years, she gave speaking tours on Celtic mythology at American universities, and in 1931, she was involved in a publicized immigration controversy when she attempted to become a citizen.

Young held a chair in Irish Myth and Lore at the University of California, Berkeley for seven years. At Berkeley, she was known for her colorful and lively persona, giving lectures while wearing the purple robes of a Druid, expounding on legendary creatures such as fairies and elves, and praising the benefits of talking to trees. Her encyclopedic knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject of Celtic mythology attracted and influenced many of her friends and won her a wide audience among writers and artists in California, including poet Robinson Jeffers, philosopher Alan Watts, photographer Ansel Adams, and composer Harry Partch, who set several of her poems to music.

Later in life, she served as the "godmother" and inspiration for the Dunites, a group of artists living in the dunes of San Luis Obispo County. She retired to the town of Oceano, where she died at the age of 88.