The Kingdom of Childhood
by Rebecca Coleman
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Pub Date Sep 27 2011 | Archive Date Sep 01 2012
Harlequin | MIRA Books
Description
If ever there was anything colder or more beautiful than a German winter I have yet to experience it. But when I was a girl of only ten, I could hardly understand that I should appreciate such loveliness with my whole heart, because, rest assured, things would get worse for me.
The Kingdom of Childhood is the story of a boy and a woman: sixteen-year-old Zach Patterson, uprooted and struggling to reconcile his knowledge of his mother’s extramarital affair, and Judy McFarland, a kindergarten teacher watching her family unravel before her eyes. Thrown together to organize a fundraiser for their failing
private school and bonded by loneliness, they begin an affair that at first thrills, then corrupts each of them. Judy sees in Zach the elements of a young man she loved as a child, but what Zach does not realize is that
their relationship is—for Judy—only the latest in a lifetime of disturbing secrets.
About the author:
Rebecca Coleman received her B.A. in English Literature from the University of Maryland at College Park and speaks to writers’ groups on the subjects of creative writing and publishing. A native New Yorker, she now lives and works near Washington, D.C. Visit her at www.RebeccaColeman.net.
Advance Praise
Rebecca Coleman’s manuscript for The Kingdom of Childhood was a semifinalist in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Competition. An emotionally tense, increasingly chilling work of fiction set in the controversial Waldorf school community, it is equal parts enchanting and unsettling and is sure to be a muchdiscussed and much-debated novel.
“Coleman’s debut is [an] enthralling read...recommended for fans of Jodi Picoult’s realistic, ethics-driven novels.”
—Library Journal, starred review
“Coleman creates a stark psychological drama in this charged story of a sexual relationship between a teacher and an underage student… It’s dark, fast-moving, and nicely creepy.”
- Publishers Weekly
“From start to finish, The Kingdom of Childhood kept me riveted.… oleman is a gifted storyteller with the ability to breathe life into characters so real I felt bereft saying goodbye to them at the end. Watch out, world: Rebecca Coleman is here to stay.”
Elizabeth Flock, New York Times bestselling author of Me & Emma
“The Kingdom of Childhood is a dark tale of sexual obsession gone awry. Coleman never flinches in revealing the disturbing secrets of the neighbors just down the street. A gripping tale.”
Keith Donohue, national bestselling author of The Stolen Child
“Ms. Coleman tells the edgy story of Judy McFarland with an exquisite use of language. The meshing of the past with the present, good with bad... turned what could have been ‘just another novel’ into art. The experience was stunning.”
Ann Hite, author of Ghost on Black Mountain
“A passionate affair with an underage student leads to the unravelling of a Waldorf schoolteacher whose life first seemed as simple and homely as a hand-knitted jersey. The Kingdom of Childhood is both compellingly
written and chillingly plausible. superb read.”
Jassy Mackenzie, author of Random Violence
“Wow, what a book! The story just spirals and I completely got caught up in the madness.”
Carol Fitzgerald, Bookreporter
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9780778312789 |
| PRICE | |
