Kept Animals - by Kate Milliken (Paperback)

About the Book

"Rory Ramos is a dutiful teenager with a love of photography who works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather manages in Topanga Canyon, a dry, dusty place reliant on horses and hierarchies. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk. June begins to take an interest in Rory-but she is more drawn to Vivian Price, the beautiful teenager with the movie-star father, who lives down the hill and, Rory can't help noticing, swims in her pool nearly every night. Rory's ambiguous roots and blue-collar upbringing keep her largely separate from the likes of the Prices and the Fisks-until her stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident. From that moment on, the lives of these teenagers become inextricably linked-are they friends or foes, lovers or rivals?-sparking a series of events that come to a head the night a wildfire tears through Topanga Canyon, and Rory's life is changed forever. Kept Animals is narrated by Rory's daughter, Charlie, twenty years after that fateful 1993 fire. Rory is away on assignment as a war photographer, and Charlie knows the key to her own existence lies in the story of what happened during that unseasonably warm fall. And without her mother to tell her the truth, she must unravel it by herself. Taut, propulsive, and deftly written, Kate Milliken's debut is a searing exploration of girlhood, class, and fate"--

Book Synopsis

Named a most anticipated novel by Oprah Daily, Vogue, Parade, The Millions, and Electric Lit - A Reader's Digest Quarantine Book Club Pick - Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize A "rugged and ravishing" (Oprah Daily) debut novel of desire, betrayal, and loss, centering on three teenage girls, a horse ranch, and the accident that changes everything.It's 1993, and Rory Ramos works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather manages in Topanga Canyon, California, a dry, dusty place reliant on horses and hierarchies. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk. While Rory draws the interest of out-and-proud June, she's more intrigued by Vivian Price, the beautiful girl with the movie-star father who lives down the hill. Rory keeps largely separate from the likes of the Prices--but, perched on her bedroom windowsill, Rory steals glimpses of Vivian swimming in her pool nearly every night. After Rory's stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident, the lives of Rory, June, and Vivian become inextricably bound together. Rory discovers photography, begins riding more competitively, and grows closer to seductive, mercurial Vivian, but despite her newfound sense of self, disaster lurks all around her in this "exquisite exploration of hurt and desire" (Jeannette Walls): in the parched landscape, in her unruly longings, in her stepfather's wrecked body and guilty conscience. One night, as the relationships among these teenagers come to a head, a forest fire tears through the canyon, and Rory's life is changed forever. Narrated by Rory's daughter, Charlie, in 2015, more than twenty years after that fateful fire, Kept Animals is "gorgeous, sensual...an event-packed novel of class, desire, [and] coming-of-age" (The New York Times Book Review).

Review Quotes

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize A Best of book in Oprah Magazine, Vogue, and Parade - A Reader's Digest Quarantine Book Club pick - A Most Anticipated in The Millions and Electric Lit "In this scorching novel set on a ranch in California's Topanga Canyon, a tragedy binds three teenage girls together during the summer of 1993. Flashing between the past and the present, Kate Milliken's narrative burns slowly, building to a wildfire." -Marie Claire "Early-'90s California provides a vivid backdrop to this novel that follows the interactions between teen ranch hand Rory Ramos and her rich clientele, including a troublesome pair of teenage twins and a beautiful movie star's daughter, as each of them reacts to a car accident that indelibly changes the path of their futures." -Vogue "In this rugged and ravishing debut, a tragic car accident upends the lives of multiple Southern California families-particularly three teenage girls, whose lives and desires intersect in ways none of them could have imagined." -Oprah "[A] dark, haunting tale of three teenage girls changed forever after a car accident. Set in southern California ranch country, the story spans 20 years, complicated alliances, festering guilt, and a wildfire that sparked it all. The novel has been praised already for its complex, moving plot." -Reader's Digest "Milliken trusts us to keep up with her fast-paced tale, catching clues on the fly as we careen through the intricate story lines. But she's at her best when she lingers, treating us to deft insights and gorgeous, sensual description...Kept Animals is an event-packed novel of class, desire, coming-of-age and familial disintegration. It's also a knowing depiction of an unstable world where residents can be as treacherous as the landscape," -Janet Fitch, The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Kate Milliken is the author of the 2013 Iowa Short Fiction Award-winning collection of stories, If I'd Known You Were Coming. A graduate of the Bennington College Writing Seminars, she has received fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center and the Tin House Summer Workshop. She lives in Northern California with her family. Kept Animals is her first novel.