| In July 1939, Charlie Kilworth visits his mother, Lily Kilworth, at the Asylum for the Insane in Whitby, Ontario, Canada. The day after his visit, Charlie's mother passes away. Charlie becomes obsessed with tracing his unusual family history. The family's history was forever altered when a mysterious piano man, Tom Wyatt, arrived in a rural town in Canada in the late nineteenth century and fell in love with Ede Kilworth. From their very brief love affair, Lily Kilworth was born out of wedlock. Ede eventually moved to Toronto with her daughter and married into the Wyatt family, although by the time of her move, tragedy had forever severed her from Tom. Lily grew up in a family concerned with propriety, and she came to hate her stepfather. She was obsessed by fire and destruction from an early age, making everyone in the family fear her supposed imbalance. Charlie must realize that his own obsession with the past influences his fear of having children and his own uneasiness about his mother and his paternity. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - thoughtful Kids growing up/acting up? Yes Internal struggle/realization? Yes Struggle over Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Something wrong upstairs/downstairs? - mental illness Parents/lack of parents problem? Wild kid(s)? - committing crimes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 () The Americas (not US): Yes The Americas: - Canada City? Yes City: - wealthy Farm/Ranch? Yes Farm/Ranch: - farm Writing Style What kind of sex: - vague references only - descript of kissing Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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