Innocents

Written when Cathy Coote was nineteen, Innocents is a taut, wickedly clever descent into the anatomy of an obsession, the debut of a precociously assured and provocative young literary voice. Forcing someone vulnerable and naive into a sexual relationship to satisfy a twisted desire is perverted, even evil. But when the perpetrator is a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl, is she culpable? And if the victim is her thirty-four-year-old teacher, shouldn't he have known better? When the nameless young narrator of Innocents decides to seduce her teacher, she immediately realizes that the power of her sexuality is greater than she ever imagined. She leaves the aunt and uncle who are her guardians and moves in with her teacher; together, they quickly embark on a journey into their darkest desires. Unforgettable, disturbing, and morally complex, Innocents permanently unsettles our notions of innocence, experience, and power, and suggests that we all are culpable.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Grove Press
Published: 08/14/2002
ISBN: 9780802139276
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.24h x 5.56w x 0.67d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2002 pg. 899
Publishers Weekly 07/15/2002 pg. 52
Entertainment Weekly 09/20/2002 pg. 101
New York Times 11/03/2002 pg. 29
Booksense '76 Nov/Dec 2002 11/01/2002 pg. 1