The Keeper

by SarahLangan (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2006

  $3.30

  Two sisters. One town. Terrible secrets. Susan; beautiful, disturbed and living in squalor, she wanders around the town, mute and accusing, an object of lust, fear and derision, the town witch, the town's guilty secret. Liz; years younger than Susan, in her last year of high school, worried about her looks, her weight, how popular she is, whether she will ever escape from Bedford and above all why her sister hates her so much. You see, she can't stop dreaming about Susan, vividly, horrifically. Dreams in which Susan tries to kill her, dreams from which she awakes strangely bruised. It turns out that everyone in Bedford dreams about Susan Marley. And when she dies, betrayed by life one final petty time, a hail of destruction is unleashed on the town of Bedford that is more terrifying than any dream.

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $3.30

  The rain falls ceaselessly on the town of Bedford as it braces itself for the annual floods that heralds the end of winter. But this year the sense of misery is more pervasive than ever. The Clott paper mill, the town's biggest employer, has shut and the town, already polluted by the chemicals the mill used, faces a desperate future. Liz and Susan Marley are two sisters who are poles apart. Susan, beautiful and disturbed, abused by her father and, even after he died, rejected by a mother unable to confront her own guilt, lives in squalor in the wrong part of town. She wanders silently around the town, inappropriately dressed, never speaking and letting herself be picked up by men in bars. She is the town witch, the town's guilty secret. Liz is years younger than Susan, in her last year of high school and worried about her looks, her weight, how popular she is, whether she will ever get out of Bedford and above all why her sister hates her so much. She dreams about Susan, vividly, horrifically, dreams in which Susan tries to kill her, dreams from which she awakes strangely bruised. But it turns out that everyone in Bedford dreams about Susan Marley, strange, disturbing dreams of destruction and loathing. And when Susan Marley commits suicide, betrayed by life one final petty time, her death unleashes a hail of destruction on the town of Bedford that is more terrifying than any dream.