The Monsters of Templeton [Paperback]

Lauren Groff's debut novel...is everything a reader might have expected from this gifted writer, and more... there are monsters, murders, bastards, and ne'er-do-wells almost without number. I was sorry to see this rich and wonderful novel come to an end, and there is no higher success than that --Stephen King

Groff's delightful debut is a glorious hybrid of history and humour, with just a sprinkling of magic --Easy Living

This has an opening to die for... a riveting read -- Scotland on Sunday

a bold and beutiful hybrid of a book...Lauren Groff is an exciting young novelist, gifted with an elegant prose style and a narrative ambition as deep and as serious as the human mysteries she sets out to explore
--Lorrie Moore

A mesmerizing tour de force that marks the debut of one of the most exciting talents in years

Willie Cooper arrives on the doorstep of her ancestral home in Templeton, New York in the wake of a disastrous affair with her much older, married archaeology professor. That same day, the discovery of a prehistoric monster in the lake brings a media frenzy to the quiet, picture-perfect town her ancestors founded. Smarting from a broken heart, Willie then learns that the story her mother had always told her about her father has all been a lie. He wasn't the one-night stand Vi had led her to imagine, but someone else entirely.

As Willie puts her archaeological skills to work digging for the truth about her lineage, a chorus of voices from the town's past rise up around her to tell their sides of the story. Dark secrets come to light, past and present blur, old mysteries are finally put to rest, and the surprising truth about more than one monster is revealed.

'The Monsters of Templeton is everything a reader might have expected from this gifted writer and more' Stephen King

'A vibrant patchwork of fact, fiction and myth...Beautifully rendered' Daily Mail

Willie Cooper arrives on the doorstep of her ancestral home in Templeton, New York in the wake of a disastrous affair with her much older, married archaeology professor. That same day, the discovery of a prehistoric monster in the lake brings a media frenzy to the quiet, picture-perfect town her ancestors founded. Smarting from a broken heart, Willie then learns that the story her mother had always told her about her father has all been a lie. He wasn't the one-night stand Vi had led her to imagine, but someone else entirely.

As Willie puts her archaeological skills to work digging for the truth about her lineage, a chorus of voices from the town's past rise up around her to tell their sides of the story. Dark secrets come to light, past and present blur, old mysteries are finally put to rest, and the surprising truth about more than one monster is revealed.

'A pleasurably surreal cross between The Stone Diaries and Kind Hearts and Coronets' Guardian

'Ingeniously structured and delivered with verve' Mail on Sunday

Lauren Groff was born in Cooperstown, New York, which is the model for Templeton, her novel's setting. She has a BA from Amherst College and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has won fellowships to the Vermont Studio Center and Yaddo. Groff's stories have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and Ploughshares among others. She lives in Gainesville, Florida with her husband. The Monsters of Templeton was shortlisted for the Orange Broadband Award for New Writers 2008.