“The Monsters of Templeton”

by Lauren Groff

c.2008, Hyperion Audiobooks • $39.95 / $42.95 Canada - 13 hours / 11 CDs unabridged

 

Legend has it — and everyone claims —that you can never go home again.

Oh, sure. You can haul belongings from the dorm to the bedroom you’ve shared with your sister since you were five. You can heal wounds beneath your ancient 4-H ribbons in the aftermath of adult heartbreak. You can hide out in Mom and Dad’s house for myriad reasons, but it’s never the same. The home you knew before leaving is never the home you return to.

In the new novel “The Monsters of Templeton” by Lauren Groff, Wilhelmina Sunshine Upton arrives at her family’s cottage, disheveled and distraught. But the comfort she longs for in Templeton isn’t what she finds — or needs.

On the morning that the dead monster broke the surface of Lake Glimmerglass near Templeton, N.Y., Willie Upton returned to the town where eight generations of her family had lived.  Just months before, Primus Dwyer, her former teacher, chose Willie to work alongside him in a graduate program. He had chosen her to sleep beside him, too. But now Dwyer has reconciled with his witchy wife and Willie is carrying his child. Pregnant and red-faced from crying, Willie retreated to the womb of home, fleeing what had become of her life.

Not long before Willie was born, her mother, Vivienne, had had her own homecoming to Templeton.  Because her parents had mysteriously died, commune-living Vivienne was suddenly an heiress. And because Viv was never sure who had gotten her pregnant, Willie was always told that she had three fathers.

But now Viv dropped a bombshell. Willie’s father was no hippie. He lives in Templeton, and he, too, descends from the Temple family. As the town becomes a growing focus of the scientific community, The Lump grows within Willie and her curiosity grows, too. Which Templetonian is her father? Were the closets of the aristocratic scions of Templeton filled with skeletons?

While I really, really loved this audiobook, there are a few things you need to know when listening to “The Monsters of Templeton:” first, this story is going to ask you to suspend disbelief now and then. You’ve been warned.

Secondly, there are errant characters that pop up often in the audiobook, and that can be discombobulating unless you understand that they’re musings from Willie’s forebears and their servants. Printing out the family tree on the “enhanced” audio disc will help a lot. If you choose to skip that, just be aware why the shift of voice.

Lastly, if you keep this audiobook in your car, make sure you have plenty of gas. Partly because of Nicole Roberts’ performance and partly because of author Lauren Groff’s writing, this story will have you sitting in a parking lot, idling, listening, unwilling to shut the car off and go about your business.

 “The Monsters of Templeton” is a great choice for book group, vacation, or nice, quiet weekend curled up on the sofa, awaiting spring. Look for it at your library or bookstore. It’s a novel you’ll definitely want to take home.