Morbonia

by William Schnabel

Morbonia is a work of fiction. The story takes place in Los Angeles near the end of 1973 and during part of 1974. It is the story of a young Californian, Keith Kadmon, who hitchhikes to Los Angeles to try and make it in the film industry as a movie actor. Keith is a nobody whose pockets are empty, so he accepts a low-paying job in the kitchen at Edelweiss, a Jewish convalescent hospital and retirement home in LA. He befriends an elderly patient in the rest home (Maudie Goldman) and keeps her company, doing what he can to bring a ray of sunshine into Maudie’s last remaining days. Many of the employees at the rest home are Mexican-Americans, and some are illegal aliens working for starvation wages. When the patients at Edelweiss get fed up with the quality of their meals, Keith helps them to organize a hunger strike and submit a petition to the a Zionist who is not accustomed to yielding to other people’s demands. Meanwhile, Keith takes dance and acting lessons and reads the trade journals for actors, but it’s difficult to get a break in the City of the Angels.

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 2, 2018