King's Oak
by Anne Rivers Siddons
List Price: $6.99
Pages: 608
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0061099279
Publisher: HarperCollins
Fleeing a disastrous marriage and an abusive husband, Andy
Calhoun and her frightened young daughter, Hillary, head for the small
town of Pemberton, Georgia, "in search of banality" and calm. Instead,
she finds herself caught up in the intrigues of the elite old families
of Pemberton. Just as she begins to assimilate to her new world of horse
racing and society dinners, she meets Tom Dabney, the wild prodigal son
of Pemberton society who lives in a magical house out in the woods. An
exuberant poet who worships the wilderness, Tom both fascinates and repels
Andy. Rumors about Tom's strange pagan rites hint at possible madness,
and Andy resolves to keep herself and her daughter away from him. Nevertheless,
against her better judgment, Andy finds herself becoming immersed in his
life and his strange, mystical world. He and his house at Goat's Creek
prove to have a profound healing effect on the traumatized Hillary, who
longs to learn all the ways of the forest from Tom. As Hillary develops
into a woodland nymph, adept at deer tracking and archery, her mother,
Andy, is slowly pulled into Tom's charismatic orbit. But when the fauna
of Goat's Creek begin to suddenly develop mysterious tumors, however,
Tom truly becomes a madman. When he discovers his precious woods are being
threatened by the wastes from a nearby nuclear power plant Tom declares
open war on the enemy and Andy must choose between her life with Tom and
the more sane one she left behind, if Pemberton society will take her
back.
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1. How does Tom's system of thous and its manifest itself in his daily life? To what extent do Hillary and Andy adopt it for themselves? Is it a practical way of living life? How might his system run into conflict with Pemberton society and the world at large?
2. Is Tom a saint, a madman, or a criminal? Is there a way of being one without the other? Does his status change through the course of the novel? What is it about Tom's 'absolutes' that attracts Andy? How do absolutes frighten her and threaten her world?
3. The men of Goat's Creek tell Andy, "we believe that you have gifts we would like to add to our arsenal, if you will." What gifts do you think they are referring to? What role does she play in the eventual cleansing of the woods? What role do the woods play in the cleansing of her life?
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