The day 28-year-old Willie Upton returns to her hometown of Templeton, New York, in disgrace is the day an enormous monster surfaces in Lake Glimmerglass. So begins The Monster of Templeton, a novel of mystery, hubris, obsession, passion, and revenge spanning two centuries, where the dead rise up to tell their sides of the story and the living are haunted by the sins of the past. Part a contemporary account of a girl's speech for her father, part historical novel, and part ghost story, this spellbinding story has at its core the revelation of how one town holds the secrets of a family.