The Tin Box

Kennedy's heartfelt first novel hinges on a long-kept secret of Kenly Lowen, a woman whose loving marriage was forged on a desperate lie. After an ominous prologue, the story begins with 15-year-old Kenly's difficult adolescence: her mother died when she was seven, and she leads a rootless, itinerant life with her heartbroken alcoholic father. They finally settle in Athabasca, a small town in northern Alberta, Canada, where Kenly forms intense friendships with an odd lot—her next-door neighbor Tommy, whose Proteus syndrome symptoms include a disfigured face, and Lexie, a feisty redhead. When Kenly's father commits suicide, Tommy and his mother, Jean, take Kenly in. Her friendship with Tommy deepens to romance, and before Kenly leaves for college, she and Tommy lose their virginity in his tree house. Soon after arriving at Northwestern University, Kenly meets and sleeps with handsome Ross, and they marry when she discovers she is pregnant. Connor, the son she bears, is Tommy's biological child, and Kenly must face up to the deception that may unravel her marriage. The novel's moving conclusion is a testament to love and forgiveness. Agent, Liza Dawson . (Oct.)