LILY RED by Karen Joy Fowler is something of a modern fairy tale, a strangely engaging story in which a woman named Lily—married, lonely, lost—yearns to be a different kind of woman, a woman with a past. She winds up at a bed and breakfast in a land called Two Trees: “Moths circled the lights on the sign and on the porch. A large white owl slid through the dusky air, transformed by the lights beneath it into something angelic. A cricket landed on the sleeve of her linen suit. The sprinklers went on suddenly; the watery hiss erased the hum of insects, but the pathway to the door remained dry. Lily stood on the lighted porch and rang the bell.”
The language is classic storybook, but Fowler adds her own twist via the content. Lily floats through the strange tale until inevitably, the spell is broken. This dynamic comes across beautifully with Narrator Kimberly Farr at the mic. She lulls you with her fairy tale lilt, then pulls the rug out from under your story hour when the tale takes a turn. Simply put, Fowler and Farr are a perfect match. Take a listen below, then read Lightspeed‘s Author Spotlight on Karen Joy Fowler to hear more about the authorly intentions behind the story.
Karen Joy Fowler is the author of six novels and three short story collections. Her first novel, Sarah Canary, won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian; her third, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner; and The Jane Austen Book Club was a New York Times bestseller. She has two Nebulas for short fiction, and her new novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is just out from Putnam.
Karen Joy Fowler
Narrator Kimberly Farr has appeared on Broadway, at the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Roundabout Theatre, Playwright’s Horizons, and the American Place. She created the role of “Eve” in Arthur Miller’s first and only musical, Up From Paradise, which was directed by the author, and she appeared with Vanessa Redgrave in the Broadway production of The Lady From the Sea. She has narrated dozens of audiobooks, among them Blue Nights by Joan Didion and Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz.
