The Monsters of Templeton

As I'm reading through my accumulated books, I realize why many of them have sat on my shelves for years. Someone of them just aren't all that compelling. Lauren Groff's debut novel The Monsters of Templeton, however, was a hidden gem. Billed as part contemporary story, part historical novel, and part ghost story in the flap copy, I tacked it on to my series of supernatural books, following Her Fearful Symmetry and The Grift. The ghost story was minimal, though, and it turned out to be one of those sweeping novels covering several generations of a fascinating family. (I'd call it epic, but at only 360 pages, that seems like an overstatement.)

Willie Upton returns to Templeton, her small Hudson Valley hometown, when she finds herself pregnant with her thesis adviser's child. According to an author's note, Templeton is based on the author's home town, Cooperstown. Both were founded by--and named after--one man. Both are home to a famous nineteenth-century novelist. And both are home to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

To get Willie's mind off her predicament, her mother tells her that her father, who Willie had previously believed was one of three random guys at a hippie commune, actually lives in town and is related to the town's patriarch Marmaduke Temple through an illegitimate birth. This sends Willie scouring through the town's history and that of her family, learning many secrets of the previous generations.

The first 50 pages were a little disjointed, and I didn't think I was going to finish the book. But once Willie starts her quest to discover her father, it became unputdownable. After a quick internet search, it seems as if this book got a good reception--Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review--but doesn't seem to be an overwhelming bestseller. It'd be perfect for a book club. I will definitely look for more from Lauren Groff, although I may skip her short story collection Delicate Edible Birds, because I have a strong fear of birds . . . especially little delicate ones.