The Last Book Party

Dukess’s vivid debut travels back to the summer of 1987 when an aspiring writer lands a job as an assistant for a well-known writer. Eve Rosen is a secretary at Hodder, Strike and Perch, a publishing company. While staying in Truro, Mass., with her family during the summer, Eve is invited to a party at the home of writer Henry Grey, where she meets his carefree son, Franny, and the two engage in a brief affair. After realizing that her secretarial position is a career dead end, Eve takes Henry up on his offer of a research assistant position for the summer. Though she enjoys working for Henry, and he begins to value her opinion, their friendship changes into an affair they both understand will likely end once the summer is over. Henry and his wife, Tillie, meanwhile, continue to plan the their end-of-summer party where everyone dresses up as their favorite literary character. Eve’s novelist friend Jeremy Grand comes for the party, but not all goes as planned, as Eve discovers some disturbing things about the origins of the plot of Jeremy’s novel. Clever characterizations bolster this enticing coming-of-age story. (July)