The Fortunate Ones

Tarkington’s spirited coming-of-age story (after Only Love Can Break Your Heart) focuses on class differences and the fraught bond between two boys in 1980s Tennessee. After fatherless Charlie Boykin, who lives on the wrong side of East Nashville with his cocktail waitress mother, wins a scholarship to a private school, he becomes ensconced in the upper crust society of posh neighboring town Belle Meade. Befriended by golden boy and fellow freshman Arch Creigh, also fatherless, Charlie is introduced to a world of privilege and is soon caught up in a love triangle with Arch’s girlfriend, Vanessa. Charlie never feels truly at home among his wealthy peers, though his friendship with Arch continues through college and beyond, when he helps Arch with his political career after Arch marries Vanessa. Tarkington frames the story with middle-aged Charlie’s present-day narration, in which he learns that Arch, now a U.S. senator, has died by suicide. While there’s no shortage of melodrama, the author skillfully unpacks Charlie’s uneasy feelings about helping Arch, who abandoned his principles for political gain, and Charlie’s reaction to learning the truth behind why he was offered the scholarship. Tarkington’s strong story of loyalty and the corruption of privilege transcends the familiar set-up. (Jan.)