THE LIBRARY

The Jones’ family lore has always been more heroic than ordinary, more about Greek mythology than flesh and blood relatives.  But after all, the patriarch, the eminent Dr. Harold Jones, a Harvard graduate, is a retired Classics professor who bestowed upon his children the names Apollo, Artemis, and Athena.  He also insists on referring to his wife and himself as Hera and Zeus.  

The Jones siblings--or the Triple AAAs, as they refer to themselves--had never questioned the lack of substantiated information from their parents, or the lack of family pictures, heirlooms, and relatives.  Then Zeus is diagnosed with brain cancer and decides to heroically do a “Virginia Woolf” into a nearby lake, faithful and dutiful Hera by his side.

Now adults, the three Jones siblings are dealing with their own life-changing problems when they are forced to come together and face the realities of their parents’ lives and death.  There are far more questions than answers.  When Athena finds a headline from a yellowed newspaper in the attic that screams, “DOUBLE MURDER,” it provides the meager clue that will eventually lead her, Apollo, and Artemis to Seminole, Texas, and a decades-old tragedy.

In Seminole in 1970, Priscilla is a waitress married to an abusive man, and Ward is a newly arrived teacher in his own unhappy marriage.  They are convinced that they have a special love and plot their escape, but there are major obstacles in their way--namely, their spouses and children.  Their escape looks hopeless until Priscilla is violated in an unspeakable way.  What she and Ward do next seals their fate and binds them together forever, no matter what the cost.