The Land of Laughs

Schoolteacher Thomas Abbey, unsure son of a film star, doesn't know who he is or what he wants—in life, in love, in his relationship with the strange and intense Saxony Gardner. What he knows is that in his whole life, nothing has touched him so deeply as the magical novels of Marshall France, a reclusive author of fabulous children's tales who died at forty-four.

Now Thomas and Saxony have come to France's hometown, the dreamy Midwestern town of Galen, Missouri, to write France's biography. Warned in advance that France's family may oppose them, they are surprised to find his daughter Anna the soul of small-town hospitality and quite excited about Thomas's proposal—even eager to get the project finished as soon as possible. Even stranger than Anna's behavior is the town of Galen itself. On the surface, all is as a small midwestern town should be. But the people of the town seem to know what their future holds—freak accidents and all—down to the hour and are as eager for Thomas to finish the biography as Anna is. Slowly Thomas and Saxony begin to realize that this idyllic little town and its inhabitants—both human and animal—are not quite what they seem: France's magic has spread beyond the printed page.