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“Wild Child” is a 2013 contemporary romance novel written by author Molly Fader (writing under the name Molly O’Keefe) and published by Bantam Books. It was the first book in the “Boys of Bishop” series to be set in the fictional town of Bishop, Ark. It was followed by “Never Been Kissed” and “Between the Sheets,” both of which take place in Bishop, and “Indecent Exposure,” which takes place outside of Arkansas but features characters previously introduced.
The location of Bishop is specified in the second novel as between the Mississippi and L’Anguille rivers. Given that the population of the fictional Bishop is approximately 4,200 at the time “Wild Child” opens, Bishop might be a stand-in for Marianna in Lee County, which had a 2010 population of 4,115 and which, like Bishop, had experienced a significant decline from previous censuses.
The novel opens with Jackson Davies, the relatively young mayor of Bishop, watching a television interview with Dean Jennings, CEO of Maybream Crackers, who plans to relocate a factory from South America back to the United States. To decide on the right place for it, Jennings will be hosting a televised competition among small towns with unused industrial facilities. Jackson hopes that winning the factory could revitalize his dying town with its shuttered okra-processing facility. But Jackson’s secret, personal goal is to be free of small-town Bishop, to which he returned years ago only to take care of his younger sister, Gwen, following an accident that killed their parents.
However, coming back into town is 30-year-old Monica Appleby, who lived as a troubled youth in Bishop with her mother, Simone, who later became a reality television star, ensuring that Monica’s own teenage years were broadcast to the world. Monica later penned a memoir, “Wild Child,” detailing her regrettable sexual escapades with various celebrities, because she needed money after caring for a cancer-stricken friend. She has checked herself into the Peabody, described as “the last standing antebellum plantation in the state”-turned-hotel. Her aim is to spend time in town to write about the night her mother killed her father in self-defense, which happened at a local bar called the Pour House when Monica was a child.
When Jackson learns that Monica is planning to interview locals about the murder during the same week a crew will be filming in Bishop, he panics and extracts from her a promise to be discreet. However, despite their initial antagonism, Jackson and Monica exhibit immense chemistry together. When Jennings comes to town and sees Monica, he takes an immediate interest and suggests her story could be the key for Bishop landing the Maybream factory. Jackson begs Monica to be part of the art camp run by local teacher Shelby Monroe, and the two eventually become closer, slowly working through their own past traumas and expectations. Jackson confesses his intentions to leave Bishop after the August mayoral election, and Monica confronts him on his plan, especially its effect upon Gwen.
Bishop advances to the semifinals of the competition to land the factory, alongside towns in Alaska and Michigan. However, at the moment of this announcement, Monica’s mother, Simone Appleby, shows up at the Pour House with a camera crew in tow as part of her own reality series, “What Simone Wants.” This causes consternation, as the next phase of the competition will involve the film crew returning during the yearly Okra Festival. Monica and Simone confront each other, and Monica eventually interviews her mother for the book.
After a fight with Monica, Jackson works at reconciling himself with his sister, and Gwen wins the Miss Okra pageant. Jennings shows up as the film crew is about to do a live shot allowing each community to make its final pitch to the voting viewership. He demands more attention from Shelby, as the camera goes live, and makes a crude reference to the fling they have been having … meaning that Jackson’s punch to Dean’s face is broadcast across the country. The factory thus goes to Alaska, but Simone offers to do one more season of her reality show set in Bishop, with the hope that this will provide some boost to the economy.
The book ends with Jackson, Monica and Gwen planning a road trip west to the Grand Canyon, and Jackson thinking of returning to the law school he had abandoned to take care of Gwen. Monica says that she may want to return to Bishop from time to time: “It’s just a town, Jackson. Not innately evil or innately good. It’s not going to save us or ruin us. It’s where our friends live, that’s all.” — Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas
This story is adapted by Guy Lancaster from the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas, a project of the Central Arkansas Library System. Visit the site at encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
