The late Americans

Emma — Thu, 09 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

‘Funny, merciless, brilliant . . . I loved it’ CURTIS SITTENFELD

Seamus, Fyodor, Ivan, Noah and Fatima are running out of time to decide on their futures, in the new novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of Real Life.

In a university town, a circle of lovers and friends navigate tangled webs of connection while they try to work out what they want, and who they are.

As they test their own desires in a series of relationships, these young men and women ask themselves and each other: what is the right thing to stake a life on? Work, love, money, dance, poetry? And what does true connection look like, in an age of precarity?

‘A constellation of characters shines in [this] campus-set tale of aspiring artists’ Financial Times

‘Intimate, hilarious, poignant . . . A gorgeously written novel of youth’s promise’ Oprah Daily

‘Elegant and razor-sharp’ EMMA CLINE

* A Daily Telegraph and FT Book of the Year *

The late Americans

Emma — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In the shared and private spaces of Iowa City, a social circle of lovers and friends navigate tangled webs of connection as they try to figure out what they want, and who they are. At the centre of the group are three dancers: Ivan, tall and stoic, who is leaving ballet for a career in finance; Fatima, whose work ethic earns her both admiration and enmity; and Noah, who 'didn't seek sex out so much as it came up to him like an anxious dog in need of affection.' As they test their own desires in a series of relationships - and in other, clandestine ways - they are buffeted by other volatile figures in town, from an unruly, vulnerable young poet to a local landlord nursing a lifetime of resentment. Finally, after a series of violent encounters, the group heads to a cabin to bid goodbye to their former lives, and waves of long-buried heartache resolve into moments of unexpected tenderness.

Taylor, Brandon – The Bell Bookshop

The late Americans

The late Americans