Father's Arcane Daughter
by E. L. Konigsburg

Subjects: Relationships (Brothers & Sisters)  
Genre: Realistic Fiction

It is the 1950's and you are Winston Elliot Carmichael, the son of millionaire Charles Carmichael.  You live on a lavish estate with your mother, father and handicapped sister Hilary, whom you call the chimpanzee. You live a very sheltered life that only money can provide. Only someone is threatening that nice, safe, luxurious existence. It's Caroline Adkins Carmichael, the only child from your father's first marriage.  Or is it Caroline? For you see Caroline was kidnapped years ago, and thought to have been murdered.  Is she a fake? What are Caroline's motives? Is it the inheritance or something deeper and more profound? Will she free Winston and Hilary from their prison of wealth and self-absorption, or destroy their structured lives?  

Note: Each chapter starts with a short section that appears to be in a psychiatrist's office and is narrated by Winston.  He compares his life to a comic book and the reader wonders who he is talking to and tries to solve the mystery of the true identity of "Caroline Adkins Carmichael".

Booktalk prepared by Janice Bailey, East Central High Librarian