Kept Animals A Novel
Kept Animals by Kate Milliken is a novel published by Simon and Schuster on April 21, 2020, featuring 368 pages in English. This debut work explores the intertwining lives of three teenage girls in Southern California, set against the backdrop of a horse ranch and a tragic car accident that alters their futures. The narrative unfolds in 1993, focusing on Rory Ramos, who navigates her complex feelings for her peers while working at her stepfather’s stable.
Readers will find a rich exploration of desire, betrayal, and loss as Rory’s life becomes increasingly entangled with those of twins June and Wade Fisk, and the enigmatic Vivian Price. As Rory discovers her passion for photography and competitive riding, the story delves into the challenges she faces amidst personal and environmental turmoil. The novel is narrated by Rory’s daughter, Charlie, in 2015, as she seeks to uncover the truth about her mother’s past and the events that shaped their lives. Kept Animals addresses themes of coming of age and LGBTQ+ experiences within a literary framework.
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Named a most anticipated novel by Oprah Daily, Vogue, Parade, The Millions, and Electric Lit • A Reader’s Digest Quarantine Book Club Pick • Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
“Kept Animals is a darkly beautiful book, tender yet powerful, an exquisite exploration of hurt and desire, the why of wanting, taking, and giving. And Kate Milliken knows her stuff when it comes to horses.” —Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses
“In this rugged and ravishing debut, a tragic car accident upends the lives of multiple Southern California families—particularly three teenage girls, whose lives and desires intersect in ways none of them could have imagined.” —Oprah Daily
A bold, riveting debut novel of desire, betrayal, and loss, centering on three teenage girls, a horse ranch, and the accident that changes everything.
It’s 1993, and Rory Ramos works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather manages in Topanga Canyon, California, a dry, dusty place reliant on horses and hierarchies. There she rides for the rich clientele, including twins June and Wade Fisk. While Rory draws the interest of out-and-proud June, she’s more intrigued by Vivian Price, the beautiful girl with the movie-star father who lives down the hill. Rory keeps largely separate from the likes of the Prices—but, perched on her bedroom windowsill, Rory steals glimpses of Vivian swimming in her pool nearly every night.
After Rory’s stepfather is involved in a tragic car accident, the lives of Rory, June, and Vivian become inextricably bound together. Rory discovers photography, begins riding more competitively, and grows closer to gorgeous, mercurial Vivian, but despite her newfound sense of self, disaster lurks all around her: in the parched landscape, in her unruly desires, in her stepfather’s wrecked body and guilty conscience.One night, as the relationships among these teenagers come to a head, a forest fire tears through the canyon, and Rory’s life is changed forever.
Kept Animals is narrated by Rory’s daughter, Charlie, in 2015, more than twenty years after that fateful fire. Realizing that the key to her own existence lies in the secret of what really happened that unseasonably warm fall, Charlie is finally ready to ask questions about her mother’s past. But with Rory away on assignment, Charlie knows she must unravel the truth for herself.
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