|
"The Monsters of Templeton is everything a reader might have expected from this gifted writer, and more...I was sorry to see this rich and wonderful novel come to an end, and there is no higher success than that." —Stephen King
Lauren Groff blazes onto the literary scene with the publication of THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON (Voice; February 5, 2008; Hardcover / $24.95). Steeped in the rich literary history of Groff’s beloved hometown (Cooperstown, New York; pop. 2,000), her debut novel offers a strikingly original blend of inventive writing and huge vision. It all adds up to a remarkable meditation on what it means to belong to a place, to a family, and ultimately to yourself.
Groff names her fictionalized hometown Templeton, a riff on the work of fellow Cooperstown native James Fenimore Cooper. THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON opens as twenty-eight-year-old Willie Upton, a descendant of the village’s founding family, returns home seeking refuge from a disastrous affair with her archaeology professor at Stanford. She expects to hide there, but the corpse of a prehistoric monster surfaces in the lovely glacial lake, fueling a media frenzy in quiet Templeton. At this pivotal moment, Willie’s hippie-turned-born-again-Christian mother, Vi, announces that Willie is not the product of a one-night stand as she has always been led to believe. She is the daughter of a prominent Templetonian. Vi lets slip only a single clue to his identity.
Willie’s search for the truth about her lineage sends her sifting through Templeton’s thorny past. Masterfully weaving local legends with her own inventions, Groff allows characters from the town’s long history to speak for themselves through journal entries, photographs, fragments of letters, and editorials. THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON, part historical novel and part ghost story, includes the voices of the village’s founders, a monster, a modern-day Greek chorus of early morning runners, and even a few of Fenimore Cooper’s fictional characters, like Natty Bumppo and Marmaduke Temple.
In the end, dark secrets come to light, past and present blur, old mysteries are put to rest, and the surprising truth about more than one monster is revealed. THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON is a riveting read and a virtuoso performance that establishes Lauren Groff as one of the best young writers of our time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lauren Groff was born in 1978. Her short stories have appeared in literary publications including The Atlantic Monthly, The Best American Short Stories, Ploughshares, and Pushcart Prize XXXII. She graduated from Amherst College and received an MFA in fiction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was awarded the Axton Fellowship in Fiction at the University of Louisville, and has had fellowships at Yaddo and the Vermont Studio Center. She lives in Gainesville, Florida.
|
