Little monsters : a novel
(Book on CD)

Read by a full cast [Stephen Graybill, Matt Pittenger, Cassandra Campbell, Joy Osmanski, Allyson Ryan, and Sura Siu].

Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when they were small, and they have been haunted by her absence ever since. Their father, Adam, a brilliant oceanographer, raised them mostly on his own in his remote home on Cape Cod, where the attachment between Ken and Abby deepened into something complicated, and as adults their relationship is strained. Now, years later, the siblings' lives are still deeply entwined. Ken is a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother's goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works. As the novel opens, Adam is approaching his seventieth birthday, staring down his mortality and fading relevance. As Adam grows less attuned to the people around him, Ken and Abby each plan the elaborate gifts they will present to their father on his birthday, jostling for primacy in this small family unit.