When their hard-drinking, but loving, father dies in a car accident, teenage brothers Kyle and Klint Hayes face a bleak prospect: leaving their Pennsylvania hometown for an uncertain life in Arizona

Fragile Beasts: A Novel

When their hard-drinking, but loving, father dies in a car accident, teenage brothers Kyle and Klint Hayes face a bleak prospect: leaving their Pennsylvania hometown for an uncertain life in Arizona with the mother who ran out on them years ago. But in a strange twist of fate, their townâ€™s matriarch, an eccentric, wealthy old woman whose family once owned the county coal mines, hears the boysâ€™ story. Candace Jack doesnâ€™t have an ounce of maternal instinct, yet for reasons she does not even understand herself, she is compelled to offer them a home.

Suddenly, the two boys go from living in a small, run-down house on a gravel road to a stately mansion filled with sumptuous furnishings and beautiful artworkâ€”artwork thatâ€™s predominantly centered, oddly, on bullfighting. And then thereâ€™s Miss Jackâ€™s real-life bull: Ventiscoâ€”a regal, hulking, jet-black beast who roams the land she owns with fiery impudence.

Kyle adjusts more easily to the transition. A budding artist, he finds a kindred spirit in Miss Jack. But local baseball hero Klint refuses to warm up to his new benefactress and instead throws himself into his game with a fierceness that troubles his little brother. Klint is not just grieving his fatherâ€™s death; heâ€™s carrying a terrible secret that he has never revealed to anyone. Unbeknownst to the world, Candace Jack has a secret tooâ€”a tragic, passionate past in Spain that the boysâ€™ presence threatens to reveal as she finds herself caring more for them than she ever believed possible.

From the muted, bruised hills of Pennsylvania coal country to the colorful, flamboyant bull rings of southern Spain, Tawni Oâ€™Dell takes us on a riveting journey not only between two completely different lands, but also between seemingly incompatible souls, casting us under her narrative spell in which characters and places are rendered with fragile tenderness.

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Brand Broadway Books
Manufacturer Crown
Binding Paperback
Color Black
ReleaseDate 2011-03-01
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780307351692

Country	USA
Brand	Broadway Books
Manufacturer	Crown
Binding	Paperback
Color	Black
ReleaseDate	2011-03-01
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780307351692

Fragile Beasts: A Novel

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