Adrienne Brodeur's novel 'Little Monsters' uncovers family secrets in Cape Cod

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Books, Arts

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Little Monsters is the story of two adult siblings, Ken and Abby Gardner, who were raised by their widowed father in Cape Cod. As their dad's 70th birthday approaches, all three members of the small family are on the precipice of great success in their respective fields – but also on the precipice of coming forward with some pretty dark secrets from their past. In today's episode, author Adrienne Brodeur tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about how this book takes inspiration from her own family, and what it means to unlearn and relearn the truths about your loved ones later in life.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Heya, I'm Chloe Veltman and this is NPR's Book of the Day.
0:06.3	Family secrets are such a powerful driver of plot.
0:10.0	Scandalous and juicy, the things characters try so hard to conceal from their loved ones,
0:15.0	propel a multitude of novels, from Charles Dickens' great expectations to Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club.
0:22.2	Adrian Breder's Little Monsters delights in secrets of all kinds.
0:26.7	As the author explains in her interview with All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly,
0:31.5	her novel is written from multiple perspectives and focuses on the well-to-do gardener family on Cape Cod.
0:37.7	The father is on the brink of a major career-capping scientific discovery.
0:42.1	The son is about to seal a very lucrative real estate deal.
0:45.2	The daughter is an artist poised for greatness.
0:48.2	Yet as successful as they might seem, the gardeners are also burdened with dark secrets.
0:56.2	At the Patriarch's 70th birthday,
1:02.2	their shadowy truths start to emerge. Let's go now to Mary Louise Kelly. In the US,
1:07.8	national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts,
1:12.3	diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show show, Sources and Methods.
1:15.7	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:18.9	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:22.2	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app,
1:23.8	or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:31.7	Four years ago, on this program, you heard me interview the writer Adrian Broder. She had a book out, a memoir, about family secrets and infidelity, and it was set on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
1:39.6	While Broder has just published a new book, a novel, titled Little Monsters.
1:45.6	It's a story of family secrets and infidelity, and it is set, wait for it, on Cape Cod.
	...

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