A suspenseful debut novel about identity, reminiscent of the mythical lyricism of Margaret Atwood and the taut eroticism of Josephine Hart.
Janet grew up with her father; her mother, she was always told, died when she was three. But now she discovers she has inherited a house from her mother—who, she learns, died only recently. In a state of shock she travels north with the key, and finds an old stone cottage at the sea’s edge.
Tom was raised by his mother, traveling from one place to another, his only stability the stories she told him—stories of shape-shifters, danger, impossible love. Now he hides away in an old stone cottage at the sea’s edge, waiting for the woman he knows will come. When Janet arrives, she is surprised to find Tom and to find herself mysteriously drawn to him.
In Erica Wagner’s world of truth and terror, lives and stories become so interwoven that, in the end, all distinctions are lost. Her hypnotic prose is charged with an intensity that will leave the reader breathless.About the author: She now edits the Books section that appears every Saturday in The Times, and writes a weekly column in that section, as well as reviews and articles. She’s interviewed such writers as Seamus Heaney, Donna Tartt, Maurice Sendak, Philip Pullman, Gitta Sereny, Paul Auster, Alan Garner, Peter Ackroyd, Bill Bryson and Nick Hornby. She reviews regularly for The New York Times, and also appears frequently on the radio and on television. She has been a guest on such programmes as (in Britain) Today, Front Row, The Culture Show, and (in the USA) Charlie Rose and Larry King Live.
Mark Peter Hughes reads from his second novel, LEMONADE MOUTH, this Sunday afternoon. This hilarious tale of five outcasts in Opoquonsett High School’s freshman class will make parents think fondly of The Breakfast Club and entertain all those teens and preteens who have never even heard of John Hughes.