The Last Book Party

May 1, 2019
A young woman with literary aspirations jumps at the chance to become a summer assistant for a prestigious author in Dukess' bittersweet coming-of-age debut novel. It's June 1987, and Eve Rosen is star-struck as she walks up the driveway of the summer home of New Yorker writer Henry Grey, for the guests are "Truro's summer elite, the writers, editors, poets, and artists who left their apartments in Manhattan and Boston around Memorial Day and stayed on Cape Cod into September." An editorial secretary at Henry's New York publisher, Eve is thrilled to meet the man whose correspondence with her, however brief, is the highlight of her job. She is also dazzled by Henry's attractive son, Franny, and Henry's aloof wife, the poet Tillie Sanderson. With dreams of becoming a writer, yet lacking confidence, Eve longs to join this world, so very different from her Jewish parents' suburban, middle-class lifestyle. "I was buoyed by a sense of possibility. A tentative belief that I could have a creative life too." Returning to Manhattan, Eve meets her boss's new literary discovery, snobbish Jeremy Grand, who went to school with Franny. Jealous of Jeremy's connections with the Greys and his early success, Eve reads his unpublished novel and is stunned by the power of his voice. Her doubts about her own abilities grow, but when Eve is bypassed for a promotion, she quits her job and accepts Henry's offer to work as his research assistant for the summer. Her decision leads her to some hard (if somewhat predictable) truths that are exposed at the Greys' annual book costume party. Eve is an appealing protagonist, naïve and yet assertive in trying to find her own voice as an artist. Written with fresh confidence and verve, this first novel is a bibliophile's delight, with plenty of title-dropping and humorous digs at the publishing scene of the 1980s. The lyrical evocations of the Cape Cod landscape will also enchant readers seeking that perfect summer read.

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May 27, 2019
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.

June 14, 2019

DEBUT When Eve Rosen is invited to her first book party in the Cape Cod town of Truro in the 1980s, she's a lowly editorial assistant at a New York publishing company. Eve is thrilled to have finally gained entry to the intellectual conversations and sexual high jinks of the literati. Though she grew up spending summers at her family's vacation home in Truro, the publishing elite were a world apart from her own family's boring circle of lawyers and accountants. With snappy dialog, name-dropping, and an author's note suggesting insider experience, the story of Eve's self-doubt and willingness to do almost anything to become a writer in a male-dominated world has a #MeToo movement currency. VERDICT Part coming of age, part gossipy peek into the enclave of writers, editors, poets, and artists who annually escaped the heat of Boston and New York to talk, drink, and work on Cape Cod, this seminostalgic debut is the ideal summer read for book people. [See Prepub Alert, 1/23/19.]--Laurie Cavanaugh, Thayer P.L., Braintree, MA

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2019
Eve Rosen has worked in publishing for most of her admittedly short career, but as an aspiring writer, she finds the constant access to other peoples' success draining. She jumps at a summer research assistantship, typing and filing for a venerated author at the New Yorker. Henry Grey and his poet wife, Tillie, live in Cape Cod, an area Eve's family has visited for decades. In Truro, where old and new money mingle, artistic and literary communities combine, and vibrant youth and established traditions collide, Eve uncovers more about herself than she ever dreamed possible. Readers aching for the sun-dappled intrigue of Andr� Aciman's Call Me by Your Name (2007) or the wit of Francine Prose's Blue Angel (2000) will find a kindred reading experience here. Although some romantic entanglements ring a bit hollow, Eve's youthful optimism is entirely believable. Mixing ambivalence, nostalgia, and the power of innocence in an idyllic setting, this journey of self-discovery is an ideal summer read for those who might shun more typical beach-read offerings.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)