Among Friends
Hal Ebbott
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From the publisher
What begins as a celebratory weekend between two families soon devolves into a reckoning of sins, past and present, as an act of violence shatters their finely made world.
'Every sentence keeps you hanging in the air, waiting for the next punch to the gut' - Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace
'Packs a huge emotional punch. I couldn’t put it down' - Daily Mail
'A writer of lavish talents . . . properly page-turning' - Daily Telegraph
Four friends. A betrayal that should shatter their seemingly perfect lives. But will they let it?
Amos and Emerson have been friends for more than thirty years. Despite vastly different backgrounds, the two now form an enviable portrait of middle age: their wives are close, their teenage daughters have grown up together, their days are passed in the comfortable languor of New York City wealth. They share an unbreakable bond, or so they think.
This weekend, however, something is different. After gathering for Emerson’s birthday at his country home, celebration gives way to old rivalries and resentments which erupt in a shocking act of violence, one that threatens to shatter their finely made world.
In its wake, each must choose: between whom and what they love most.
Hal Ebbott's Among Friends explores themes of class, marriage, friendship, and power, as well as the things we tell ourselves to preserve our finely made worlds.
'A powerful, elegant novel that offers unsparing insight into the lives of others' - Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had
'An exquisitely crafted family tragedy' - John Irving
'Masterly . . . Ranges from the most exquisite, Jamesian discriminations to the graspable, all-American solidities of Updike and Richard Yates. This is a writer to watch, with excitement and the highest expectations' - John Banville, author of The Sea
'In the way that a forceful intelligence or an infectious voice or a fresh vision can alter how we observe and answer the world, Among Friends brought me into its cool environs and made me engage my days differently. It's no small accomplishment for a first novel, or for any novel' - Richard Ford