{"product_id":"the-kept","title":"The Kept","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Dark and mysterious. . . . A novel whose daring is found in its bleakness. . . . The plot unfolds with a weighty languor reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy. . . sparse, elegant. . . haunting.\" -- \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSet in rural New York state at the turn of the twentieth century, superb new talent James Scott makes his literary debut with \u003cem\u003eThe Kept\u003c\/em\u003e--a propulsive novel reminiscent of the works of Michael Ondaatje, Cormac McCarthy, and Bonnie Jo Campbell, in which a mother and her young son embark on a quest to avenge a terrible and violent tragedy that has shattered their secluded family.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the winter of 1897, a trio of killers descends upon an isolated farm in upstate New York. Midwife Elspeth Howell returns home to the carnage: her husband, and four of her children, murdered. Before she can discover her remaining son Caleb, alive and hiding in the kitchen pantry, another shot rings out over the snow-covered valley. Twelve-year-old Caleb must tend to his mother until she recovers enough for them to take to the frozen wilderness in search of the men responsible.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA scorching portrait of a merciless world--of guilt and lost innocence, atonement and retribution, resilience and sacrifice, pregnant obsession and primal adolescence--\u003cem\u003eThe Kept\u003c\/em\u003e introduces an old-beyond-his-years protagonist as indelible and heartbreaking as Mattie Ross of \u003cem\u003eTrue Grit\u003c\/em\u003e or Jimmy Blevins of \u003cem\u003eAll the Pretty Horses\u003c\/em\u003e, as well as a shape-shifting mother as enigmatic and mysterious as a character drawn by Russell Banks or Marilynne Robinson. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48833216446669,"sku":"9780062236654","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0557\/1529\/9533\/files\/imageloader_e4780b77-f0d6-43f8-8577-1ce6904ee2d0.jpg?v=1790796182","url":"https:\/\/booksatmidnight.com\/products\/the-kept","provider":"Books At Midnight","version":"1.0","type":"link"}