The Last Romantics: A Novel

Tara Conklin

ISBN 10: 1982608501 ISBN 13: 9781982608507

Publisher: HarperCollins B and Blackstone Audio, 2019

Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling author of The House Girl explores the lives of four siblings in this ambitious and absorbing novel in the vein of Commonwealth and The Interestings.

""The greatest works of poetry, what makes each of us a poet, are the stories we tell about ourselves. We create them out of family and blood and friends and love and hate and what we've read and watched and witnessed. Longing and regret, illness, broken bones, broken hearts, achievements, money won and lost, palm readings and visions. We tell these stories until we believe them.""

When the renowned poet Fiona Skinner is asked about the inspiration behind her iconic work, The Love Poem, she tells her audience a story about her family and a betrayal that reverberates through time.

It begins in a big yellow house with a funeral, an iron poker, and a brief variation forever known as the Pause: a free and feral summer in a middle-class Connecticut town. Caught between the predictable life they once led and an uncertain future that stretches before them, the Skinner siblings--fierce Renee, sensitive Caroline, golden boy Joe and watchful Fiona--emerge from the Pause staunchly loyal and deeply connected. Two decades later, the siblings find themselves once again confronted with a family crisis that tests the strength of these bonds and forces them to question the life choices they've made and ask what, exactly, they will do for love.

A sweeping yet intimate epic about one American family, The Last Romantics is an unforgettable exploration of the ties that bind us together, the responsibilities we embrace and the duties we resent, and how we can lose--and sometimes rescue--the ones we love. A novel that pierces the heart and lingers in the mind, it is also a beautiful meditation on the power of stories--how they navigate us through difficult times, help us understand the past, and point the way toward our future.

About this title

About the Author:

Tara Conklin is a writer and lawyer currently living with her family in Seattle. Most recently she worked as a litigator in the New York and London offices of a corporate law firm but now devotes herself to writing fiction. She holds a BA in history from Yale, a JD from New York University School of Law, and a Master of Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School (Tufts University). Prior to law school, she held a variety of jobs in a variety of locales, including dealing cards at a casino in Costa Rica, planning events at a press center in Moscow, teaching English at a school in Madrid, and waiting tables at a hotel in Montana. Her short fiction has appeared in the Bristol Prize Anthology and Pangea: An Anthology of Stories from Around the Globe.

Review:

The Last Romantics is a richly observed novel, both ambitious and welcoming.

-- "Meg Wolitzer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author"

Despite spanning almost a century, The Last Romantics never feels rushed. Conklin places readers in the center of the Skinner family, moving back and forth in time and allowing waves of emotion to slowly uncurl. Perfectly paced, affecting fiction.

-- "Booklist"

Conklin's plot avoids the predictable, and adds a new mystery each time an old one is solved, resulting in a clever novel.

-- "Publishers Weekly"

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins B and Blackstone Audio
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1982608501
• ISBN 13: 9781982608507
• Binding: Audio CD
• Number of pages: 1