Summary

The novel opens with a brief note from the author. The novel’s setting—Templeton, New York—is based on Cooperstown, New York. Some of the novel’s characters are based on the family of American writer James Fenimore Cooper, as well as some fictional character created by Cooper. Chapter 1 opens in the town of Templeton, New York. Wilhelmina “Willie” Upton is a 28-year-old graduate student in archaeology at Stanford University, but she has taken leave from her studies and has returned to Templeton, which is her hometown. On the day of her return, people find the carcass of a large, undiscovered species of creature in Templeton’s Lake Glimmerglass. Willie goes to Averell Cottage, the large home where her mother Vivienne Upton raised her. Willie explains that she had an affair with her faculty mentor, Professor Primus Dwyer, that she is...