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The OtherStock informationGeneral Fields
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DescriptionHolland and Niles Perry are identical thirteen-year-old twins. They are close, close enough, almost, to read each other's thoughts, but they couldn't be more different. Holland is bold and mischievous, a bad influence, while Niles is kind and eager to please, the sort of boy who makes his parents proud. The Perrys live in the bucolic New England town their family settled in centuries ago, and indeed, the extended family has gathered at their farm this summer to mourn the death of the twins' father in an unfortunate accident. Mrs. Perry never quite recovered from the shock and stays sequestered her room, leaving her sons to roam free. As the summer goes on, though, and Holland's pranks become increasingly sinister, Niles finds he can no longer make excuses for his brother's actions. The Other is a landmark of psychological horror, part of a lineage that includes the works of James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shirley Jackson, and Peter Straub. Thomas Tryon's bestselling novel about a homegrown monster is an eerie examination of the darkness that dwells within everyone. Reviews"It is perhaps unfair and a little inaccurate to typecast "The Other "as a horror story. It is so ingenious and well-written that it transcends that--or any--label. The setting is the small Connecticut town of Pequot Landing, which under other circumstances, might be idyllic. But the people who inhabit Tryon's New England are just as haunted as O'Neill's, and a lot more violent...His [Tryon's] characterizations have depth and subtlety, the narrative is well-paced and suspenseful. Where he really excels is with mood and atmosphere. Rarely have such commonplace surroundings been made to seem quite so dark and menacing and chillingly evil." - "Chicago Tribune" Author descriptionThomas Tryon (1926-1991) was an American stage, screen, and television actor who became a popular author of horror novels and shorter fiction evoking the Golden Age of Hollywood. He earned awards and critical praise for his role in Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963) and continued to appear in movies and television programs into the early 1970s before abandoning his acting career. His first novel, The Other (1971), remained on bestseller lists for seven months and was made into a 1972 film of the same name. Tryon's other books include the novels Harvest Home and Lady, the novella collections Crowned Heads and All That Glitters, two historical novels set in pre-Civil War New England, and a children's book, The Adventures of Opal and Cupid. Dan Chaon is the acclaimed author of novels Among the Missing, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, You Remind Me of Me, and most recently, Await Your Reply. Chaon's short stories have won the Pushcart Prize and The O. Henry Award, and been included in The Best American Short Stories anthology. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction, and he was the recipient of the 2006 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chaon lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and teaches at Oberlin College, where he is the Pauline M. Delaney Professor of Creative Writing. |