The Kept (31 page)

I have been extraordinarily fortunate to have the support, friendship, and love of a great many people. My heartfelt thanks go out to:

My family: Mom, Dad, Anne, Meredith, Zoey, Brian, and the extended Scott and Strayer families. You raised me, you read with me, and I’m happy to share this book with you.

The Springer and Rogers families: Melissa, Alan, Susan, Chancellor, Paul, Becky, Fred, Judy, and the aunts and uncles and cousins who have welcomed me as one of their own.

Margot Livesey, who fifteen years ago sat down with me and encouraged me to keep going, and every day since has taught me how I can be a better writer, a better literary citizen, and a better person.

Hannah Tinti, for showing me the way with remarkable generosity.

My friends and readers whose guidance, jokes, and sanity I clung to: Urban Waite, Laura van den Berg, Chip Cheek, Pauls Toutonghi, and Jaime Clarke.

My amazing friends Mike Morrell, Jennifer Nicolla Ray, Peter Sax, Michael Hunt, David Lukowski, Josh Elliott, Matt Salesses, Katharine Gingrich, Cam Terwilliger, Shannon Derby, Kevin Alexander, Dan Pribble, Scott Votel, Shuchi Saraswat, Kirstin Chen, Megann Sept, Sean Lanigan, Pei-Ling Lue, Leslie Brack, the magical Yaddo group, Paul Beilstein, Amanda Goldblatt, Jett and Chris Brooks, Mary Cotton, Jane Dykema, Randall Lahann, Kevin Wilson, Josh Weil, Ryan Call, Mike Rosovsky, Jason Reitman, Wendy Wakeman, Jesse Donaldson and Becca Wadlinger, Celeste Ng, Tom Perrotta, Julianna Baggott, Christian Botting, and Jamil Zaki.

All of my teachers, but especially Daniel Wallace, Jim Shepard, Pamela Painter, Christine Schutt, Joy Williams, Mako Yoshikawa, Rick Reiken, Ben Brooks, Don Mitchell, David Bain, Jay Parini, John Casey, and Thomas Mallon.

Ladette Randolph, Stacey Swann, Chris Boucher, David Madden, and all of the literary magazine editors who were kind enough to work on my stories.

The Corporation of Yaddo, which provided me with inspiration, confidence, and friendship. This book would not exist without the time and space you’ve given me.

The Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the New York State Summer Writers Institute, the Millay Colony, the St. Botolph Club, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ for their support and fostering a sense of community.

Laurel Phillips, and some wonderful libraries and librarians—Skidmore College, Wellesley College, Morse Institute, Saratoga Springs Public Library, Wellesley Free Library, among others—for research help.

Everyone at Grub Street, especially Chris Castellani and Sonya Larson, for the great work you do. My workshop students always motivate me and remind me how lucky I am to be able to discuss writing and literature.

Janklow and Nesbit and their amazing staff, in particular Stephanie Koven and Amanda Schweitzer, for taking the book to new places, literally and figuratively.

Harper and HarperCanada, for all of your hard work and support: Jonathan Burnham, Iris Tupholme, Jane Beirn, Shannon Ceci, Maria Golikova, and everyone who has had a hand in bringing this book to life.

Sarah Rigby and the staff at Hutchinson, who cheered every word.

Barry Harbaugh, editor extraordinaire, for calming my (almost constant) fears and going above and beyond at every turn.

P. J. Mark, the world’s greatest agent, who took a chance on a very rough piece of a book and showed me a light at the end of a tunnel that at that time seemed very dark and on the verge of collapse. Thank you for your steadying faith.

Taylor, most of all, for your unwavering support, sacrifice, and love. No matter what was happening, no matter how busy or stressed life was, you always encouraged me to do whatever it took to get this book finished. Thank you for believing in me.

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

JAMES SCOTT
was born in Boston and grew up in upstate New York. He holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MFA from Emerson College. His fiction has appeared in
Ploughshares
,
One Story
,
American Short Fiction
, and other publications. He has received fellowships and awards from, among others, Yaddo, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the New York State Summer Writers Institute, and the Tin House Summer Writer’s Workshop. He lives in western Massachusetts with his wife and dog.
The Kept
is his first novel.

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C
REDITS

Cover design by Richard Ljoenes

Cover photograph by Monique Laguë

C
OPYRIGHT

THE KEPT.
Copyright © 2014 by James Scott. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Scott, James, 1977 February 3–

The kept / James Scott.—First edition.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-06-223673-9 (hardback)—ISBN 978-0-06-223665-4 (trade paperback) 1. Revenge—Fiction. 2. Domestic fiction. I. Title.

PS3619.C6654K47 2014

813'.6—dc23 2013027875

EPub Edition JANUARY 2014 ISBN 9780062236661

A
BOUT THE
P
UBLISHER

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.