Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
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
" Kept Animals is a darkly beautiful book, tender yet powerful, an exquisite exploration of hurt and desire, the why of wanting, taking, and giving. And Kate Milliken knows her stuff when it comes to horses." --Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses
"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 Daily
A bold, riveting 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 gorgeous, mercurial Vivian, but despite her newfound sense of self, disaster lurks all around her: in the parched landscape, in her unruly desires, 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.
Kept Animals is narrated by Rory's daughter, Charlie, in 2015, more than twenty years after that fateful fire. Realizing that the key to her own existence lies in the secret of what really happened that unseasonably warm fall, Charlie is finally ready to ask questions about her mother's past. But with Rory away on assignment, Charlie knows she must unravel the truth for herself.
"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"-- Provided by publisher.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
DEBUT NOVEL After her award-winning story collection If I'd Known You Were Coming, Milliken offers a gripping debut novel that sweeps back and forth from Topanga Canyon in 1993 to Little Snake, WY, in 2015. Fifteen-year-old Rory Ramos, mostly adrift but a talented photographer, lives with stepfather Gus Scott and neglectful mother Mona at the Leaning Rock Ranch, where Gus is the lead horse trainer. with Sonja, Jorge, and son Tomas maintaining the ranch for its wealthy owner. Rory is both stable hand and skilled rider, training with well-to-do friends June and Wade Fisk, twins who board their horses at Leaning Rock. The twins are wild and undisciplined, and both hit on Rory. Nearby at a palatial estate, self-absorbed movie star Everett Price neglects mentally fragile wife Sarah, aimless teenage daughter Vivian, and demanding baby Charlie. The teenagers' lives crisscross recklessly, and Rory is pulled into danger. Then a car crash affects everyone from clueless Everett to hardworking Sonja and Jorge, and a devastating wildfire engulfs the canyon. VERDICT Milliken pulls out all the stops to deliver a riveting page-turner, an unforgettable story of loss and renewal. She is a powerful talent to watch. [See Prepub Alert, 2/4/20.]--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO
Publishers Weekly Review
In Milliken's moving debut, a California ranch becomes the stage for tense conflicts of class and family. In 1993, 15-year-old Rory Ramos is a talented horseback rider working at Leaning Rock Ranch alongside her stepfather, Gus. Through the job she becomes friends with June Fisk, the daughter of a rich neighbor who comes for riding lessons, sparking feelings that make Rory confront her own sexuality. After Gus inadvertently causes a car accident that kills the son of a famous actor who lives nearby, Rory becomes close with Vivian Price, the actor's troubled older daughter, who begins carrying on a secret romantic relationship with Rory while dating June's twin brother, Wade. But as wildfire season approaches, tensions rise among Rory and Vivian, until one fateful night changes Rory forever. In a separate narrative, Rory's daughter, Charlie, must untangle what actually happened between the group of friends 22 years earlier. Changing perspective throughout, Milliken excels at capturing each character's unique voice and perspective--particularly Rory's guarded quietness and Vivian's performed jadedness. Her attention to details of place and time, as well as the casual cruelties those of privilege can inflict on those who have less, provide astute undercurrents to the propulsive plot. Milliken's electric tale keenly documents the power of first love and the lingering hurt of trauma. (Apr.)
Booklist Review
Milliken's debut is a surprisingly suspenseful coming-of-age novel starring an earnest young woman who loves horses and, maybe, girls. In 1993, Rory works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather, Gus, manages in Topanga Canyon. Their clientele includes a famous plastic surgeon's kids, June and Wade. June, an out lesbian, begins a friendship, and possibly more, with Rory, and also makes Rory see the ranch's rich neighbor Vivian, the daughter of a movie star, in a different light. After Gus is involved in an accident that kills Vivian's little brother, relationships get extremely complicated, and Rory seeks solace in photography and her friendship with Tόmas, another ranch hand. All of this is interspersed with present-day narration from Rory's daughter, Charlie, who's trying to figure out who her father is and what happened to the ranch and Rory's beloved horses. While the plot is swift-moving and engaging, it is occasionally overstuffed and secondary characters could be better developed. Still, Rory is a lovely companion, and readers will enjoy following her through her trials and tribulations.
Kirkus Book Review
A toddler's death and a vast wildfire bracket a coming-of-age story set at a horse ranch in Topanga Canyon in the summer of 1993. Rory Ramos is 15 the year her alcoholic stepfather, Gus, is responsible for the car accident that kills Charlie Price. Charlie is the 19-month-old son of a movie star and his wife, the only sibling of their beautiful, troubled teenage daughter, Vivian. Rory has enjoyed spying on this family from her bedroom window, which perches above their spread in the canyon, but the night of the accident she was busy getting bitched out by her shrewish barmaid mother. Rory and Gus are both employed at Leaning Rock Ranch, locus of much of the action and a slew of other characters, including wealthy teenage twins June and Wade Fisk. June is out as a lesbian, and her attentions to Rory will help the latter realize she's in love with Vivian. While Vivian is dating the racist, classist pig Wade, she is also happy to toy with Rory as well as her former AP English teacher. In addition to being an accomplished horsewoman, Rory is a promising photographer--"I can't teach this" says her photo teacher in admiration--and in fact she will grow up to become a war correspondent, as we learn in a second narrative line set in 2015, narrated by her daughter. If this sounds complicated, it is, and this is not the half of it. Milliken writes well about horses, photography, Southern California, taxidermy, lifestyles of the rich and famous, and more--if only she had chosen a subset of these topics. This gifted author has packed enough material for at least two books into her debut. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
TextPublisher: New York : Scribner, 2020Description: 350 pages ; 24 cmISBN: