Approached by an elegant and seemingly harmless older gentleman while babysitting in Bayhead Harbor, 16-year-old Katya Spivak is entranced by the writer's sophisticated home and eventually agrees to pose for his newest painting before realizing that he may have a hidden agenda. Read by Angela Goethals.
The always provocative Joyce Carol Oates strikes again with this disturbing tale of a 16-year-old girl who temporarily endures the seductions of a much older man. Katya Spivak, who is neglected by her alcoholic mother, takes a summer job as a nanny for an upper class family in an exclusive New Jersey suburb. The teenage beauty catches the eye of a local named Marcus Kidder, a former children's book writer, who begins to quench her thirst for attention with seemingly innocent invitations and some much-needed financial assistance. But the longer Katya tolerates Kidder's perverse courtship, the more sinister and lurid his intentions become, until she must choose between the confidence and money he offers and the dignity he takes away.
- Genre: Fiction + Literature Themes
- Subgenre: Stages of Life, Psychology, Society + Social Issues, Types of Characters, Love + Relationships + Sex
- Publisher: Audiogo
- Edition: Unabridged
- Language: English
- Format: audioCD
- Release Date: April 12, 2011
- Date Published: April 12, 2011
- Author: Joyce Carol Oates
- Narrator: Angela Goethals (Narrator)