So, part of the book is set in 2015 in Wyoming, and the bulk of the book is set in the months leading up to the 1993 real-life wildfire that Charlie, her daughter, suspects her mother may have had something to do with the start of. She’s a photojournalist, but she’s fairly absent from their lives in Wyoming. She’s trying to figure out her mother’s history, and how she ended up becoming the person she is. The book is told through her daughter’s perspective. Maris: Tell me about Rory, who is the main, well.

I just wanted to go back to that place that I loved, and back to horses, and ended up writing a bigger story than my own, obviously. I did a lot of research on the weather systems, the biome Mike Davis was a big influence. What makes you want to run toward danger, basically. Part of my motivation to write the book was to understand what makes a 16-year-old so reckless, when I didn’t have a home there. I was actually 16 in 1993, when the book is set, so I experienced that fire I wasn’t in the mix of it, but I actually did go to the canyon the day it started, trying to help horses. Kate: I didn’t completely realize that when I started writing the book. It’s such a little microcosm of the world. Maris: Tell me about the Topanga Canyon and how you become so familiar with it in terms of its weather. This week is actually the first time that I’ve felt kind of itchy. And I’m doing okay! As good as can be expected, given everything. I’m Kate Milliken, I’m the author of Kept Animals, which just came out, my debut novel. Maris: Will you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about how you’re doing? I’m Maris Kreizman, and I’m so excited today to be joined by Kate Milliken.

Her favorite local bookstore is Book Passage please purchase Kept Animals through their website or through Bookshop.

Milliken discusses the research that went into her knowledge of the Topanga Canyon biome, her own history riding horses, the influence of Sylvan Esso’s music, and the complications of family. On this episode of Sheltering, Maris Kreizman talks with Kate Milliken, author of the debut novel Kept Animals, which centers on three teenage girls, a horse ranch, and the accident that changes everything.

Kept animals kate milliken