Marshall Klimasewiski, writer-in-residence in The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, speaks with a fan of his work at the Campus Store-sponsored tent at The Big Read Festival in Clayton, Mo., Oct. 7. Klimasewiski recently penned The Cottagers, his first novel, which is part mystery, part psychological examination and part coming-of-age story. Set on a remote stretch of Vancouver Island, it follows the complex and often strained relationship between a pair of vacationing American couples — Brooklynites Nicholas and Samina and their longtime friends, St. Louisans Greg and Laurel — and Cyrus Coddington, a local teen-ager and self-styled “genius” who insinuates himself into their lives. The New York Times named The Cottagers as an “Editor’s Choice,” praising Klimasewiski’s intricate prose and clever plotting and describing character Cyrus as “a hybrid of two very different literary loners, Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye) and Raskolnikov (Crime and Punishment).”