Ten Thousand Saints

Set in Vermont and New York City in the late 1980s, American author Eleanor Henderson’s novel Ten Thousand Saints (2011) follows Eliza, a young New Yorker who has a one-night stand with a young man named Teddy while visiting Vermont for New Year’s Eve. The night’s aftermath unfolds dramatically: Teddy does drugs with his best friend, Jude (and the son of Eliza’s mother’s boyfriend), and Eliza later discovers that she is pregnant with Teddy’s baby. The novel illuminates some of the enduring tragedies that are common in young people’s lives and the ironic ways in which many of these setbacks undermine the fantasies and ideals that they pursue.

The novel begins in December 1987. In Vermont, Teddy’s friend Jude Keffy-Horn lives with his adoptive mother and sister, Harriet and Prudence. Jude feels alienated from his adoptive family, and like Teddy, copes by fantasizing about leaving Vermont to start a life in New York City. They also engage in heavy drug use, partly enabled by Jude’s estranged father, Les, a marijuana dealer living in New York. Les and his girlfriend, Diane, let Eliza take a bus to Vermont to meet Teddy and Jude on New Year’s Eve.

Teddy and Jude pick Eliza up from the bus station and bring her to a party. At the party, Jude is assaulted and savagely beaten. Eliza and Teddy get along, and Eliza gives Teddy his first line of cocaine. They end up doing cocaine in a locked bathroom, then have sex. When they part ways, Teddy asks Eliza to search for his brother, Johnny, in New York City, explaining that Johnny has no phone and has fallen out of contact for a concerning length of time. Eliza takes the bus back to New York City. Teddy and Jude return home, taking a detour to huff a dangerous aerosol drug sold commercially as engine coolant. When Harriet wakes up in the early morning, she finds Teddy and Jude unconscious in the yard; Jude survives, but Teddy dies.



Unaware of Teddy’s death, Eliza finds Johnny in Alphabet City. When she meets him, she discovers that he is a disciple of the Hare Krishna cult, not the straight-edge city dweller Teddy described. Eliza tells Johnny that Teddy is worried about him and wants him to call home. When he does, his mother, a drug addict, picks up, and relays the news of Teddy’s death. Not long after, Eliza learns that she is pregnant with Teddy’s baby. She tells Jude and Johnny, who agree to keep it under wraps. Johnny, a closeted gay man, decides to propose to Eliza out of respect to Teddy’s memory. Eliza and Johnny tell Eliza’s mother that the baby is Johnny’s and that they intend to marry. Because Eliza is not yet 18, her mother’s signature is required to permit the marriage; she refuses, so the couple has their ceremony in the Hare Krishna temple.

Johnny and Eliza borrow Les’s car and temporarily move into Harriet’s house. Johnny goes on tour with his band, Army of One, and Jude becomes the band’s guitar player, replacing Rooster, who left because Johnny was in love with him. Jude, meanwhile, struggles because he has fallen in love with Eliza. When they return from the tour, Johnny leaves for New York City, stranding Eliza back in Vermont. Eliza expresses to Jude that she thinks Johnny is in love with someone else. After overhearing a phone call between Johnny and Rooster, Jude realizes that Johnny loves Rooster. He decides not to tell Eliza but now goes after her without guilt. Eliza falls in love with Jude as well.

Jude and Eliza travel back to New York City, where they hope to start their family. There, they find Johnny, who tells them that he has spoken to Teddy’s biological father and wants this man to raise Eliza’s child. Distraught, Eliza runs outside into a crowded public protest and goes into labor. Jude finds her and takes her to the hospital, where she gives birth. At the end of the novel, Johnny and Rooster scatter Teddy’s ashes into the river. Eliza and Jude remain in Brooklyn to raise their baby boy.