The Inverted Forest (Dalton novel)
The Inverted Forest is the second novel by Missourian author John Dalton published in 2011 by Scribner. It was on the Beach Read list of "New York Magazine"'s summer guide. The storyline based in part on Dalton's own experience as a counsellor at Camp Don Bosco in Hillsboro, Missouri, in the 1980s. Plot. The novel is set in 1996, the fictional Kinderman Summer Camp in Shannon County, Missouri, run by an elderly camp director. Two days before the opening of the camp the director fires most of the counsellors when he finds them  naked in the small hours of the camp's swimming pool. Quickly the director manages to find enough counsellors to run the camp but rather than expecting children, the counsellors find responsibility for 104 severely developmentally disabled adults from the State Hospital. One of the counsellors is Wyatt Huddy with Apert Syndrome who has been living in a Salvation Army facility, having been rescued by them by his cruel sister. All his life he has been misjudged by his deformed features, but he manages to successfully fit in as a counsellor at the camp and is enamoured by the camp  nurse Harriet. The counsellors battle with the camper's afflictions and sexuality. The camp manager Linda Rucker is then fired as rumours spread about her behaviour to the attractive lifeguard Christopher Waterhouse. Harriet has always been suspicious of Christopher but his behaviour to teenage camper Evie is brought to a head when Harriet accuses him of planning to be alone with Evie to abuse her on a trip out. Harriet asks Wayne to follow them, where Evie is found naked, Wayne then kills Christopher. Part 2 of the novel starts in St. Louis 15 ears later where Marcy thinks fondly  back her time as a counsellor, and her relationship with Christopher and about the legal case concerning Wayne. The remaining camp sessions were cancelled after the death of Christopher as the counsellors recall their time at the camp including Wayne Huddy and Harriet.