The Kingdom Of Childhood
Rebecca Coleman
Oct 2011 · HarperCollins Australia
Ebook
368
Pages
About this ebook
I suppose in the beginning it was a love story
As a child, hers was a dark fairytale set against a wonderland of sparkling white snow, with the warm glow of candlelit holy day lanterns keeping the shadows at bay. Back then, there was innocence. And now she’ll do anything to return.
The Kingdom of Childhood is the story of a boy and a woman: sixteen-year-old Zach Patterson, uprooted and struggling to reconcile his knowledge of his mother’s extramarital affair, and Judy McFarland, a kindergarten teacher watching her family unravel before her eyes. Thrown together to organise a fundraiser for their failing private school and bonded by loneliness, they begin an affair that at first thrills, then corrupts each of them. Judy sees in Zach the elements of a young man she loved as a child, but what Zach does not realise is that, for Judy, their relationship is only the latest in a lifetime of disturbing secrets. As the walls close in, Zach finds himself needing to disentangle from premature adulthood. But the lines between adult and child have blurred, and life and sanity are unravelling faster than anyone could ever have imagined.
As a child, hers was a dark fairytale set against a wonderland of sparkling white snow, with the warm glow of candlelit holy day lanterns keeping the shadows at bay. Back then, there was innocence. And now she’ll do anything to return.
The Kingdom of Childhood is the story of a boy and a woman: sixteen-year-old Zach Patterson, uprooted and struggling to reconcile his knowledge of his mother’s extramarital affair, and Judy McFarland, a kindergarten teacher watching her family unravel before her eyes. Thrown together to organise a fundraiser for their failing private school and bonded by loneliness, they begin an affair that at first thrills, then corrupts each of them. Judy sees in Zach the elements of a young man she loved as a child, but what Zach does not realise is that, for Judy, their relationship is only the latest in a lifetime of disturbing secrets. As the walls close in, Zach finds himself needing to disentangle from premature adulthood. But the lines between adult and child have blurred, and life and sanity are unravelling faster than anyone could ever have imagined.
About the author
A New Yorker by birth, Rebecca Coleman grew up in the close suburbs of Washington, D.C., in an academic family. A year spent in Germany, at the age of eight, would later provide the basis for the protagonist's background in The Kingdom of Childhood. She first learned about the Waldorf School movement at age fourteen and quickly developed a fascination with its culture and philosophies. After studying elementary education for several years at the University of Maryland, she graduated with a degree in English, awarded with honors. She lives in Bowie, Maryland, with her husband and their four young children.
Rebecca loves to hear from her readers via her email: rebeccacolemanwriter@gmail.com
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