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A Fair Maiden
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A Fair Maiden Paperback - 2011

by Joyce Carol Oates

An Otto Penzler Book. In the tradition of Oates's classic novella "Beasts, A Fair Maiden" is an unsettling, ambiguous tale of mounting suspense and gradually unfolding horror.


Summary

An Otto Penzler Book
 
Sixteen-year-old Katya Spivak is walking with her two summer babysitting charges in Bayhead Harbor, New Jersey, when she’s approached by silver-haired courtly Marcus Kidder—a local resident of some renown. At first his interest in Katya seems innocent, even as Katya’s interest in him seems precociously manipulative. His lovely oceanside home, the children’s books he has written, his classical music, and his lavish presents to her—Mr. Kidder’s life contrasts starkly with Katya’s working-class—and marginally criminal—family background. By almost imperceptible degrees, the relationship between Katya and the gentlemanly Marcus Kidder changes, and posing for him isn’t the romantic endeavor it had seemed. What does this mysterious rich man really want from Katya, who is young enough to be his granddaughter? And what will he risk to get it?

In the tradition of Oates’s classic novella Beasts, A Fair Maiden is an unsettling, ambiguous tale of mounting suspense and gradually unfolding horror.

From the publisher

Sixteen-year-old Katya Spivak is out for a walk on the gracious streets of Bayhead Harbor with her two summer babysitting charges when she's approached by silver-haired, elegant Marcus Kidder. At first his interest in her seems harmless, even pleasant; like his name, a sort of gentle joke. His beautiful home, the children's books he's written, his classical music, the marvelous art in his study, his lavish presents to her -- Mr. Kidder's life couldn't be more different from Katya's drab working-class existence back home in South Jersey, or more enticing. But by degrees, almost imperceptibly, something changes, and posing for Mr. Kidder's new painting isn't the lighthearted endeavor it once was. What does he really want from her? And how far will he go to get it? In the tradition of Oates's classic story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" A Fair Maiden is an unsettling, ambiguous tale of desire and control.

Details

  • Title A Fair Maiden
  • Author Joyce Carol Oates
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 176
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Ecco Press
  • Date 2011-01-18
  • ISBN 9780547263359 / 054726335X
  • Weight 0.37 lbs (0.17 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.03 x 5.3 x 0.45 in (20.40 x 13.46 x 1.14 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Teenage girls, Suspense fiction
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

PRAISE FOR JOYCE CAROL OATES:

 

"What keeps us coming back to Oates Country is… her uncanny gift of making the page a window, with something on the other side that we'd swear was life itself."—The New York Times Book Review 

"For 40 years, Joyce Carol Oates has maintained a creative dialogue with the roiling cauldron of contemporary American culture, writing unflinchingly about the oddities that bubble up into the headlines."—Washington Post Book World

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A Fair Maiden

A Fair Maiden

by Joyce Carol Oates

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by Oates, Joyce Carol

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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