Oates chooses fresh identity, familiar setting for novel

A fellow at a research institute in Princeton receives a cream-colored envelope in her mailbox. Inside is a ticket for a concert of chamber music at the University's Richardson Auditorium. There is no note and no explanation for this gift.

The young woman, Lara Quade, speculates that her anonymous donor will be sitting in the seat next to hers at the concert. When she meets the man who arrives to occupy that seat, her quiet life takes a series of dramatic, unexpected turns.

Princeton is the setting for the novel "Take Me, Take Me With You" (Ecco) published under the name Lauren Kelly, who is described on the book jacket as "the pseudonym of a bestselling and award-winning author." The novel takes the reader on a harrowing journey as Lara unravels the mysteries of her tragic childhood. It is a tale full of plot twists and devastating secrets that keep the reader in a state of suspense.

The author behind the pseudonym is Joyce Carol Oates , the Roger Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities, who has created a new persona to expand her fiction writing in another direction.

"Novels by Lauren Kelly are planned to be shorter and more cinematic than those by Rosamond Smith, my former pseudonym," Oates said in written answers to questions posed by the Princeton Weekly Bulletin. "I love the novella form and hope to concentrate on it, often."

Read the full story , as well as a description of other recent suspense/mystery novels set at Princeton, in the Weekly Bulletin.

Contact: Eric Quinones (609) 258-3601