'Early-’90s California provides a vivid backdrop to this novel that follows the interactions between teen ranch hand Rory Ramos and her rich clientele, including a troublesome pair of teenage twins and a beautiful movie star’s daughter, as each of them reacts to a car accident that indelibly changes the path of their futures.' Flashing between the past and the present, Kate Milliken's narrative burns slowly, building to a wildfire.' 'In this scorching novel set on a ranch in California's Topanga Canyon, a tragedy binds three teenage girls together during the summer of 1993. A Most Anticipated in The Millions and Electric Lit.A Reader’s Digest Quarantine Book Club pick.

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel PrizeĪ Best of book in Oprah Magazine, Vogue, and Parade But with Rory away on assignment, Charlie knows she must unravel the truth for herself. 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. Kept Animals is narrated by Rory’s daughter, Charlie, in 2015, more than twenty years after that fateful fire. 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. 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.Īfter Rory’s stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident, the lives of Rory, June, and Vivian become inextricably bound together. 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. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk. 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.

Kept animals kate milliken