Millersburg Book

Harry Cauley's third novel, Millersburg (Bridie and Finn and The Botticelli Angel preceding) might well be described as "New Jersey Gothic." It's set in 1939 in a small town in Northern New Jersey, narrated by Ben, a 17-year-old boy. He's part of a family ruled by Mamu, his tyrannical grandmother, and starts with a grisly double murder that eventually involves his family and changes, forever, the family dynamics as long-kept secrets begin to unravel. In addition to being an award winning novelist, Harry Cauley is also an award-winning film writer, a distinguished playwright (two of his plays have appeared on Broadway), actor (appearing in over fifty plays), director, and television writer (Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman). Among the other beautifully rendered members of the family are Ben's mother Eulalie, vague, distracted, and ineffective, his sister Estella, who pines for a local sheriff's deputy she is allowed to see only in the presence of Mamu, and Uncle Josh, Mamu's reclusive younger half-brother who lives alone in a shack on a creek and provides the only culture--and respite--that Ben and Estella know.