Ebbott, Hal: Among Friends

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER AND THE ECONOMIST NAMED A FAVORITE FICTION READ OF THE YEAR BY NPR “Stylish and assured….Ebbott’s prose is honed and aphoristic, recalling the work of James Salter and John Cheever…The sentences go down easy...but there is substance beneath the gleaming surfaces.” —Washington Post “Acutely perceptive and beautifully written…A living thing...A huge achievement.” —The Financial Times "Finely calibrated...[A]s discerning as it is pitiless." —The New Yorker What begins as celebration gives way to betrayal, shattering the trust between two families It’s an autumn weekend at a comfortable New York country house where two deeply intertwined families have gathered to mark the host’s fifty-second birthday. Together, the group forms an enviable portrait of middle age. The wives and husbands have been friends for over thirty years, their teenage daughters have grown up together, and the dinners, games, and rituals forming their days all reflect the rich bonds between them. This weekend, however, something is different. An unforeseen curdling of envy and resentment will erupt in an unspeakable act, the aftermath of which exposes treacherous fault lines upon which they have long dwelt. Written with hypnotic elegance and molten precision, and announcing the arrival of a major literary talent, Hal Ebbott’s Among Friends examines betrayal within the sanctuary of a defining relationship, as well as themes of class, marriage, friendship, power, and the things we tell ourselves to preserve our finely made worlds.