Jude Atkins travels to South Carolina to meet Peter Benedict, a wealthy and successful painter she met on the Internet, and who she thinks she loves. What should be a normal courtship becomes a twisted descent into a dark family legacy in which art threatens life. The Benedict family's secret and the dark ambitions of the beautiful, sinister sculptor Ava Benedict, Peter's mother, threaten to engulf Jude, Peter, and everything they hold dear.
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Kit Reed was born in San Diego CA and earned a BA from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. In the ’50s she worked as a reporter for the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times and in Connecticut, for the New Haven Register, where she was twice named New England Newspaperwoman of the Year in 1958 and ’59. In 1974 she became an adjunct at Wesleyan University, where she ran fiction workshops, and is now Resident Writer there. Reed served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle from 1991-95. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964, was the first American recipient of an international literary grant from the Abraham Woursell Foundation (1965), and has received numerous other awards and grants. In 1959 she was a Hugo Award finalist for best new author.
Starred Review. The cost of being a slave to talent, fame or fortune provides the theme for this exceptional thriller from Reed, an expert at creating witty cautionary tales (Thinner Than Thou). Sinister secrets lurk at Wayward, a South Carolina plantation, whose "doomed inhabitants," the Benedicts, are "caught in a dark globe of family obsession, terrible and huge." More than a hundred years earlier, Beauchamp Benedict's famous sculpture, God and His Creation, mysteriously disappeared en route to the National Cathedral, and now a centennial celebration is in the works, masterminded by the leader of his descendants, the maniacal Ava Benedict. The Benedicts have continued to awe the world with their sculptures, which, alas, require blood sacrifice. Judith "Jude" Atkins, a lowly jewelry designer, may become a victim, along with 11-year-old Edgar Benedict, the little brother of Peter, a painter who wants to escape the family legacy and with whom Jude has fallen in love. Seductive pacing and Reed's trademark glittering prose make this a chilling, satisfying exploration of art for art's sake vs. life for life's sake.
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Seller: Library House Internet Sales, Grand Rapids, OH, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Jude Atkins travels to South Carolina to meet Peter Benedict, a wealthy and successful painter she met on the Internet, and who she thinks she loves. What should be a normal courtship becomes a twisted descent into a dark family legacy in which art threatens life. The Benedict family's secret and the dark ambitions of the beautiful, sinister sculptor Ava Benedict, Peter's mother, threaten to engulf Jude, Peter, and everything they hold dear. Former library book. Please note the image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item. Ex-Library. Seller Inventory # 123460129
Seller: Library House Internet Sales, Grand Rapids, OH, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Jude Atkins travels to South Carolina to meet Peter Benedict, a wealthy and successful painter she met on the Internet, and who she thinks she loves. What should be a normal courtship becomes a twisted descent into a dark family legacy in which art threatens life. The Benedict family's secret and the dark ambitions of the beautiful, sinister sculptor Ava Benedict, Peter's mother, threaten to engulf Jude, Peter, and everything they hold dear. Due to age and/or environmental conditions, the pages of this book have darkened. Former library book. Mylar protector included. Solid binding. Moderate edgewear on the boards. Moderate shelf wear. Please note the image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item. Ex-Library. Seller Inventory # 123812731
Seller: Wonder Book, Frederick, MD, U.S.A.
Condition: As New. First edition copy. . Like New dust jacket. From the library of science fiction and fantasy writer, editor, publisher and prolific book reviewer D. Douglas Fratz. (horror, fantasy, novel). Seller Inventory # SB03E-01497
Seller: Book Alley, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Signed. First Edition. Signed and inscribed by Author. Very Good in dust jacket. Appears unread with NO markings. Pasadena's finest new and used bookstore. Seller Inventory # mon0000003326
Seller: HPB Inc., Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority! Seller Inventory # S_462195444
Seller: COLLINS BOOKS, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
HARDCOVER. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st edition. 249pp, octavo. Seller Inventory # 111359
Seller: COLD TONNAGE BOOKS, Colyton, DEVON, United Kingdom
Hardcover. First edition (& 1st printing). Gothic mystery novel. Fine copy in a fine dustjacket (as new). Seller Inventory # 17438
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Kathmandu Books, Winter Park, FL, U.S.A.
1st edition. HC in dust jacket. 1st Printing. One of 125 copies signed by Reed on an illustrated limitation page. Includes a short story, "Dream Décor" which is not in the trade edition. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 30219