The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs

Jack Gantos

May 2006 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Lisa Datz

About this audiobook

“I expect you might think the story I am about to tell you is untrue or perversely gothic in some unhealthy way. You might even think I’ve exaggerated the facts in order to twist this book into a modern-day metaphor on the exploitation of human creation, as did Mary Shelley with Frankenstein. Maybe you’ll think I’m trying to spook you with a psychological tale of a murderous double as Edgar Allan Poe wrote in “William Wilson,” or to stir up family shame as Hawthorne did in The House of the Seven Gables. But my story is entirely different.”
So begins Jack Gantos’ unnerving drama about three generations of family and friends in a small western Pennsylvania town, held together by the secrets of obsessional mother love–a love so blood-bound that, once revealed, it has no choice but to turn against its keepers.

About the author

Jack Gantos has written books for all ages from children to adult, including the popular Rotten Ralph series. He is nationally recognized as a leading presenter on creative writing and literature for both teachers and students. He lives with his wife and daughter in Boston, Massachusetts.