The Megabuilders of Queenston Park, acclaimed author Edmund Keeley's eighth novel, opens in present-day Princeton, New Jersey, as the quaint college town faces mounting changes in its architectural and cultural landscape. Ambitious builders roam the neighborhoods in search of modest postwar houses to tear down and replace with McMansions, forcing out the community's middle-class residents. Cassie and Nick Mandeville, nearing retirement and protective of their privacy, are thrust into the fray of local politics as they fight against the destruction of their neighborhood by father-and-son builders who plan to erect yet another McMansion next door and to induce the Mandevilles to sell their home as a teardown. While Nick and Cassie navigate the maze of community zoning, they discover an insensitive and possibly corrupt political system, a microcosm of the national political scene during the Bush years. What is the true value of a house, a home, and the stability, affection, and familial loyalty it nurtures and shelters? Can we protect what and whom we love most? Keeley examines these issues with grace and wicked humor in The Megabuilders of Queenston Park.
