Set in the fictional town of Pequot Landing in the Connecticut countryside of Tryon's youth, we follow twin brothers Holland and Niles through a summer at home with their shut-in mother and Russian-born grandmother Ada. We are instantly drawn to Niles's vulnerable innocence as he suffers Holland's cruel pranks. As they meander through the summer, however, we see Niles through his grandmother's lens, revealing a murky hatred simmering just beneath the surface.The plot is immediately reminiscent of Henry James's
The Turn of the Screw, but Tryon's characters are more fully and intimately realized. From Ada's vivid reminiscences of psychic experiences as a girl in Russia, to Holland's eerily cold-hearted violence, to the most surprising and satisfying ending I have read in years,
The Other is a genuine classic.
