Sixteen-year-old Katya Spivak is out for a walk on the gracious streetsof Bayhead Harbor with her two summer babysitting charges when she sapproached by silver-haired, elegant Marcus Kidder. At first hisinterest in her seems harmless, even pleasant; like his name, a sort ofgentle joke. His beautiful home, the children s books he s written, hisclassical music, the marvelous art in his study, his lavish presents toher Mr. Kidder s life couldn t be more different from Katya s drabworking-class existence back home in South Jersey, or more enticing. Butby degrees, almost imperceptibly, something changes, and posing for Mr.Kidder s new painting isn t the lighthearted endeavor it once was. Whatdoes he really want from her? And how far will he go to get it? In the tradition of Oates s classic story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"A Fair Maidenis an unsettling, ambiguous tale of desire and control.