Dimensions
155 x 203 x 22mm
When Kate and Stuart Kinzler buy a run-down, historic home in Ann Arbor, all they hope for is a decent remodeling investment and a little space in which to rekindle their troubled marriage. What they get, instead, is the news that a murder occurred under their roof many years ago. This fact-combined with the pressures of remodeling-exacerbates the tensions between them, until finally Stuart decides to leave Kate, striking out on the road. When a mysterious man begins lurking around the house, Kate is left alone, forced to accept the illusion of her dream house and confront its disturbing past and dangerous present.
Flash back to the previous owners of the Kinzlers' dream house-the Prices, an African-American family who bought the home in the 1970's with high hopes for upward mobility. But a series of family misfortunes culminate in the domestic homicide that spark the breakdown of their family, the loss of their home, and the incarceration of their oldest son, Walker Price. When he returns from prison in the present day, looking for gratitude, he finds only a devastated, embittered family comprised of people who fear him. In his disappointment and rage he is drawn to the dream house of his youth, trying to piece together a new life from his old one and determine whether someone who kills once must remain a killer for life.
Embracing the volatile issues of race, class, and gentrification, DREAM HOUSE charts the shock waves that spread out from one terrible night-one outraged act-to shape and connect the lives of two families. Laken's debut novel also explores the connection between property and intimacy, highlighting the terrible price people pay to hold their homes and dreams together.
