# Will Durkin — Short Fiction character guide

> Will Durkin in Short Fiction by Frank Belknap Long.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Durkin, The Cottage To Will Durkin, Unfortunately Durkin, Abruptly Durkin, Surprisingly Durkin

**First appearance:** 0037-the-cottage

## Snapshot

A stepfather whose authority over his wife's children is absolute yet hollow, Durkin rules a small white cottage with a gaze that mocks and a silence that punishes.

## Who they are

Durkin holds the whip hand over his stepchildren, yet even when his power cannot be questioned he finds himself a shunned and forgotten man. His fury hardens his gaunt face into a stone mask, and he can bend the bare yellow earth to his will but not the boy Robert, whose defiant grasp of a crude doll replica sets the household's quiet war in motion. His sullen silence at dinner and his mocking scrutiny of his wife's pride in Robbie make him the pressure that the story's early tensions press against.

## Relationships

### [Emily](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_17_se/characters/emily)

_family_

A familial bond, possibly siblings or parent-child, with frequent domestic interactions.

### [Emily](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_17_se/characters/emily)

_family_

A familial bond, possibly siblings or parent-child, with frequent domestic interactions.

### [Emily](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_17_se/characters/emily)

_family_

A familial bond, possibly siblings or parent-child, with frequent domestic interactions.

## In the story

### [The Cottage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_17_se/chapters/the-cottage)

The bitter, cruel stepfather who buys a dollhouse to manipulate his stepchildren.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_17_se/characters/will_durkin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_17_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_17_se/characters