A Fair Maiden

The twisted story of an elderly artist and children's book author named Marcus Kidder and his obsession with a 16-year-old nanny named Katya sends shudders down one's spine as Kidder ensnares the teenager in his attempt to create a "fairy-tale death." Narrator Angela Goethals captures the girlish tone and wide-eyed na•veté of the attractive Katya as she slowly becomes entrapped by her wealthy suitor. Bestselling literary novelist Joyce Carol Oates finds a willing accomplice in narrator Goethals as Katya is manipulated into posing for the elderly artist in lingerie. Ultimately, the novel is creepy and not as satisfying as one would hope, although Oates's fans may enjoy it. R.O. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine


Katya Spivak, the title character of Oates's novel, is a puzzling protagonist. She may be an innocent teenager from a tough, disadvantaged background, who is lucky to have a summer job at the Jersey Shore as nanny to two small children. She may also be a self-absorbed, calculating vixen who can give Lolita a run for her money as she carries on a bizarre relationship with the silver-haired, well-heeled Marcus Kidder. Truth is, she's probably both, and Angela Goethals's interpretation of Katya's enigmatic personality neatly bundles all of these dimensions into a perfect-pitch performance. Listeners can easily comprehend Katya's naòve expectations and understandable disappointments; they can also balk at her personal delusions and self-serving machinations. L.X.B. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

April 6, 2009
Sixteen-year-old Katya Spivak and elderly Marcus Kidder share a bizarre romance in Oates’s derivative and unpolished new novel. In bland Bayhead Harbor, N.J., Katya serves as a nanny to the Engelhardts’ two young children. Attractive Katya—unappreciated by her alcoholic mother, mistreated by the tyrannical Engelhardts—is intrigued by the attentions of wealthy Mr. Kidder, a former children’s book author and amateur painter. The courting is slow at first, but after Katya accepts Mr. Kidder’s money to help her mother pay off a debt, things accelerate. Soon Katya is posing for Mr. Kidder in lingerie and receiving payment upon each visit. She begins to feel used, but is thankful for the attention—until one evening when Mr. Kidder possibly drugs her, at which point something equally bizarre and predictable happens. Katya and Mr. Kidder’s final meeting reveals Mr. Kidder’s true intention for Katya, but the revelation isn’t worth the buildup. This is certainly one of Oates’s lesser works.