The Monsters of Templeton

And monsters are just what Wilhelmina discovers when she starts digging into the history of her town in upstate New York. Willie goes into a slump after a disastrous affair with her college professor, when she finds out that her mother has lied to her all these years about who her father is. Her mother figures her revelation might get Willie fired up to do her own research, and, sure enough, through letters, diaries, and town gossip Willie begins to uncover some monstrous relatives. A surprising number of them seem to be characters from James Fenimore Cooper novels. Ann Marie Lee brings each character to life. Her enthusiastic willingness to embrace the myriad cast members--from Jamaican slave to grief-crazed Indian--makes her a narrator to keep your eye out for in the future. D.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 26, 2007
At the start of Groff’s lyrical debut, 28-year-old Wilhelmina “Willie” Upton returns to her picturesque hometown of Templeton, N.Y., after a disastrous affair with her graduate school professor during an archeological dig in Alaska. In Templeton, Willie’s shocked to find that her once-bohemian mother, Vi, has found religion. Vi also reveals to Willie that her father wasn’t a nameless hippie from Vi’s commune days, but a man living in Templeton. With only the scantiest of clues from Vi, Willie is determined to untangle the roots of the town’s greatest families and discover her father’s identity. Brilliantly incorporating accounts from generations of Templetonians—as well as characters “borrowed” from the works of James Fenimore Cooper, who named an upstate New York town “Templeton” in The Pioneers
—Groff paints a rich picture of Willie’s current predicaments and those of her ancestors. Readers will delight in Willie’s sharp wit and Groff’s creation of an entire world, complete with a lake monster and illegitimate children.

A tour-de-force first novel like this deserves a remarkable reader and gets one in Nicole Roberts, who easily traverses two hundred years and multiple genres. Roberts portrays Willie Upton, shamed when she returns home pregnant and unmarried, surly when she learns her hippie mother is dating a minister and has lied about her being fathered by one of four freewheeling men, inquisitive when she finds out her biological father lives in town. As Willie reads family journals, Roberts animates historical figures: Hettie, the headstrong slave turned progenitor, and Sarah Upton, a great-great grandmother who treads lightly between her pride and her fear of insanity. The narrative also brings alive a strong sense of place. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine