This is a quiet, haunting tale, one that deserves to be read and remembered. This book gives the reader so much to think about. The plot weaves together multiple threads that all come together to impact a mighty climax. There are many mysteries hidden within this book. Charlie has a vested interest in what went on in Topanga Canyon that year and is determined to find out what happened. 1993 brings more than one tragedy to Topanga Canyon-tragedies that didn’t have to happen. There are also several interesting peripheral characters who are enmeshed with these teens. Even more well off is Vivian Price, the teen-aged daughter of a movie star. Rory becomes friendly with June that summer at the ranch where Rory works as a ranch hand and June boards her horse. The story is about the people and how their decisions affect the rest of their lives. The protagonists of those two timelines are 15-year-old Rory and 22-year-old Charlie, respectively. The chapters alternate between Topanga Canyon, CA, in 1993 and Little Snake, WY, in 2015.

It grew and grew on me and eventually bloomed like a rose. I saw the ratings averaged 3.76 of 5 so I was expecting a good, yet perhaps, forgettable story. I’d like to thank Goodreads, Scribner publishing, and Ms. I was the lucky winner of a copy of this novel through Goodreads giveaways. Taut, propulsive, and gorgeously written, Kate Milliken’s debut is a searing exploration of girlhood, class, and fate. And without her mother to tell her the truth, she must unravel it by herself. Rory is away on assignment as a war photographer, and Charlie knows the key to her own existence lies in the story of what happened during that unseasonably warm fall. Kept Animals is narrated by Rory’s daughter, Charlie, twenty years after that fateful 1993 fire. From that moment on, the lives of these teenagers become inextricably linked-are they friends or foes, lovers or rivals?-sparking a series of events that come to a head the night a wildfire tears through Topanga Canyon, and Rory’s life is changed forever. Rory’s ambiguous roots and blue-collar upbringing keep her largely separate from the likes of the Prices and the Fisks-until her stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident. June begins to take an interest in Rory-but she is more drawn to Vivian Price, the beautiful teenager with the movie-star father, who lives down the hill, and Rory can’t help noticing, swims in her pool nearly every night. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk. Rory Ramos is a dutiful teenager with a love of photography who works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather manages in Topanga Canyon, California, a dry, dusty place reliant on horses and hierarchies. A bold, riveting debut novel of desire, betrayal, and loss, centering on three teenage girls, a horse ranch, and the tragic accident that changes everything.

Kept Animals by Kate Milliken