Hello and welcome to another edition of Inside the Cover.

I am your host, Ted Ayres, and I look forward to our upcoming discussion about yet another book that I found of interest and that I am anxious to share with our PBS Kansas audience tonight.

Our book is The God of the Woods by Liz Moore.

It is now time to go inside the cover.

Liz Moore was not a familiar author to me, and I am always please to discover a talent new to me.

Moore was born on May 25th, 1983.

She grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts, and received her bachelor's degree from Barnard College and a master of Fine Arts and creative writing from Hunter College.

She currently teaches in the MFA program at Temple University in Philadelphia.

After a brief tim as a musician in New York City, which inspired her first novel, The Words of Every Song, she shifted her focus to writing.

Her book, Long Bright River, was a Good Morning America club pick and one of Barac Obama's favorite books of 2020.

The God of the Woods was published in 2024 and is Moores fifth novel.

In 1961, Youn Peter Wallingford Van Laar IV, called “Bear” by his family, disappeared from the Van Laar Preserve locate in the Adirondacks of New York.

Bear was never found, and this tragic and traumatic incident serves as the foundational cornerstone of the book, which I would describe as an homag to the magic of the Adirondacks, a murder mystery an insider's view into the lives of the privileged members of high society and the common fol who live and work around them, and an insightful and forthright view into the feelings, motivations, strengths, and shortcomings of people.

Mostly, I found it to be a page turning thriller.

I found the format of this book to be very interesting.

The story is told in alternating chapters focused on eight primary characters, running from the 1950s through August of 1975.

Louise Donnadieu is a 23-year-old counselor of the Balsam Cabin at Cam Emerson, a camp for youngsters located on the Van Laar Preserve.

Alice Van Laar, nee Ward, is the wife of Peter Van Laar III and the mother of Bear.

She also is the Mother of Barbara, who was conceived and born after young Bears disappearance.

Tracy Jewell is a first-time camper at Camp Emerson and a young woman dealin with the divorce of her parents and her father's new girl friend.

She also finds herself the bunkmate of Barbara Van Laar.

Barbara Van Laar is the daughter of Peter and Alice Van Laar and a first-time camper at Camp Emerson.

Her mysterious disappearance from the Camp seems eerily simila to what happened to her brother some 14 years earlier....or was it?

Carl Stoddard is a gardener at Camp Preserve and also a voluntee for the local fire department.

His involvement in the 1961 search for Peter Van Laar IV has significant consequences for him and his family...that remain for years.

Judyta Luptach is a new investigator with the New York State Police and her persistence and determination (and perhaps naviete) play a significant role in findin answers to the mysteries of Camp Emerson, past and present.

Our book tonight has been Th God of the Woods by Liz Moore.

This book really captured my attention, and I thought the author did a great job of tying a rather complicated story all together.

It's a very worthwhile read in my opinion.

Again, I want to thank Rand for introducing me to this book and introducing m to the Adirondacks back in 2017.

Good night and see you next time.