Play Audiobook Sample
Kept Animals: A Novel Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(0.00) - 0 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
A bold, riveting debut novel of desire, betrayal, and loss, centering on three teenage girls, a horse ranch, and the accident that changes everything.
It’s 1993, and Rory Ramos works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather manages in Topanga Canyon, California, a dry, dusty place reliant on horses and hierarchies. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk. While Rory draws the interest of out-and-proud June, she’s more intrigued by Vivian Price, the beautiful girl with the movie-star father who lives down the hill. Rory keeps largely separate from the likes of the Prices—but, perched on her bedroom windowsill, Rory steals glimpses of Vivian swimming in her pool nearly every night.
After Rory’s stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident, the lives of Rory, June, and Vivian become inextricably bound together. Rory discovers photography, begins riding more competitively, and grows closer to gorgeous, mercurial Vivian, but despite her newfound sense of self, disaster lurks all around her: in the parched landscape, in her unruly desires, in her stepfather’s wrecked body and guilty conscience. One night, as the relationships among these teenagers come to a head, a forest fire tears through the canyon, and Rory’s life is changed forever.
Kept Animals is narrated by Rory’s daughter, Charlie, in 2015, more than twenty years after that fateful fire. Realizing that the key to her own existence lies in the secret of what really happened that unseasonably warm fall, Charlie is finally ready to ask questions about her mother’s past. But with Rory away on assignment, Charlie knows she must unravel the truth for herself.
Download and start listening now!
“Explores the fissures that undergird a ranch, a stable, and a community in Topanga Canyon, California…with themes of class, race, migration, work, land, and ownership.”
— Millions.com
Quotes
-
“Milliken’s unforgettable characters face dangers of all kinds, be it familial, romantic, or of the natural world.”
— Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author -
“A darkly beautiful book, tender yet powerful, an exquisite exploration of hurt and desire, the why of wanting, taking, and giving.”
— Jeannette Walls, New York Times bestselling author -
“[A] rugged and ravishing debut.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“A searing, beautifully written look at a place, a time, and a community set along the fault lines of class, race, climate, and coincidence.”
— Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State
Awards
-
A Millions.com Pick of Most Anticipated Books of 2020
-
An Oprah Magazine Pick of LGBTQ Books That Will Change the Literary Landscape in 2020
-
A Library Journal Editor’s Pick of Books to Watch in 2020
-
Nominated for the Reading the West Book Award
Kept Animals Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
About Kate Milliken
Kate Milliken is the author of the novel Kept Animals and a collection of stories, If I’d Known You Were Coming, chosen for the 2013 John Simmons/Iowa Short Fiction Award. Her stories have appeared in Zyzzyva, Fiction, New Orleans Review, and Santa Monica Review, among others. She has also written for television and commercial advertising. A graduate of the Bennington College Writing Seminars, she is a recipient of several Pushcart Prize nominations and fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center, Yaddo, and the Tin House Summer Writer’s Workshop.
About Rebecca Lowman
Rebecca Lowman is an actress and audiobook narrator who has won numerous Earphones Awards. She has starred in numerous television shows, including Law & Order, Big Love, NCIS, and Grey’s Anatomy, among many others. She earned her MFA from Columbia University.