ChildwoldKasch is a lonely eccentric man in his forties who has survived a bitterly disappointing marriage only to fall in love, against his will, with a fourteen-year-old named Laney. An inhabitant of a distant, improverished region--Childwold--Laney embodies all that Kasch finds fatally irresistible. As Kasch succumbs to the beauty and mystery of Childwold and Laney's family, his control over his destiny loosens and he is plunged into personal catastrophe, even as Laney and her family are freed. |
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afraid angry Arlene Arlene's arms asked Aunt Aunt Esther baby barn Bartlett bitch blackberry wine boy friend bubble lights Childwold Christmas cold Cranberry Lake crazy dark daughter dead door drunk Earl electric football everything eyes face farm father feel feet fingers Fitz John friends fuss girl going gone gonna Grandpa hair Hamilton Boys hands happen hard hated head hear hell Hurley hurt Joyce Carol Oates Kasch kids kill kitchen knew Krassov Laney Laney's laughing legs listening lived look Lyle Marsena Millgrove Momma mother mouth Nancy never nice night Northern Boulevard odor Paedomorphosis Port Oriskany remember river Ronnie scream shoulders shouted sleep smiling snow someone sometimes split-brain stairs stared stop street talk tell things tiny told trumpet vine Vale voice wait walk watching window woman Yewville