Long Island Compromise

'Is this book as good [as Fleishman ]? It's better' THE NEW YORK TIMES 'The best book I've read this year' HARLAN COBEN 'Very, very good' ELIZABETH DAY 'The book of the summer, nay, the year' DAVID SEDARIS 'This book is DYNAMITE. Inhaled it in two sittings' CAITLIN MORAN 'Shocking, tender, profound and delicious' EMILY MAITLIS 'Lavishly comic' THE TIMES 'A lip-smacking tale' GUARDIAN 'Elegant and devastating' FINANCIAL TIMES From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble comes a darkly exhilarating novel about an American family and its inheritance - the safety and wealth that they fought for, and the precarity of their survival that is their legacy. In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalised and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife, kids and exquisite Long Island home less than a week later, and the family moves on with their gilded lives. But now, nearly forty years later, it seems that nobody ever got over anything, after all. With a death in the family, the hidden struggles of the Fletchers come bubbling to the surface. Carl has spent years secretly seeking closure to the mystery of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has given up everything to protect her husband's fragile emotional health and keep the business thriving. Their three grown children aren't doing much better: Nathan's chronic existential fear won't allow him to advance at his law fi rm; Beamer, a failing Hollywood screenwriter, will consume anything - substances, food, women - at any cost; and Jenny, with her brilliant mind, is desperate to prove she is not anything like her family by working in trade unions (whilst still receiving quarterly payouts from the family business). Money was what put the Fletchers in danger, but it has also protected them - until now... Long Island Compromise spans generations, winding through decades of history all the way through to the wild present, dealing along the way with all the mainstays of American Jewish life and the timeless questions about wealth, trauma, and the American soul. MORE PRAISE FOR LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE : 'The status book you'll want to be seen with' STYLIST '[A] scabrous satire' THE NEW YORKER 'This author's talents are boundless' LA TIMES 'Substantive and profound' CATHY RENTZENBRINK 'Greatness so often comes at the expense of what is enjoyable. Long Island Compromise is both, and then some' IPAPER 'Exuberant and absorbing' ATLANTIC PRAISE FOR FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE : ' There is no one that this book isn't for . . . Pure brilliance' INDIA KNIGHT, THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Could be one of the books of my entire lifetime. I've never felt so seen' GRACE DENT, GUARDIAN ' Sharp and wicked, insightful and funny, and then suddenly so touching' DAVID NICHOLLS 'A work of utter perfection' ELIZABETH GILBERT [FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE was a Sunday Times bestseller (UK) in August 2019 and a New York Times bestseller (USA) in June 2019]

'Is this book as good [as Fleishman ]? It's better' THE NEW YORK TIMES 'The best book I've read this year' HARLAN COBEN 'Very, very good' ELIZABETH DAY 'The book of the summer, nay, the year' DAVID SEDARIS 'This book is DYNAMITE. Inhaled it in two sittings' CAITLIN MORAN 'Shocking, tender, profound and delicious' EMILY MAITLIS 'Lavishly comic' THE TIMES 'A lip-smacking tale' GUARDIAN 'Elegant and devastating' FINANCIAL TIMES From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble comes a darkly exhilarating novel about an American family and its inheritance - the safety and wealth that they fought for, and the precarity of their survival that is their legacy. In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalised and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife, kids and exquisite Long Island home less than a week later, and the family moves on with their gilded lives. But now, nearly forty years later, it seems that nobody ever got over anything, after all. With a death in the family, the hidden struggles of the Fletchers come bubbling to the surface. Carl has spent years secretly seeking closure to the mystery of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has given up everything to protect her husband's fragile emotional health and keep the business thriving. Their three grown children aren't doing much better: Nathan's chronic existential fear won't allow him to advance at his law fi rm; Beamer, a failing Hollywood screenwriter, will consume anything - substances, food, women - at any cost; and Jenny, with her brilliant mind, is desperate to prove she is not anything like her family by working in trade unions (whilst still receiving quarterly payouts from the family business). Money was what put the Fletchers in danger, but it has also protected them - until now... Long Island Compromise spans generations, winding through decades of history all the way through to the wild present, dealing along the way with all the mainstays of American Jewish life and the timeless questions about wealth, trauma, and the American soul. MORE PRAISE FOR LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE : 'The status book you'll want to be seen with' STYLIST '[A] scabrous satire' THE NEW YORKER 'This author's talents are boundless' LA TIMES 'Substantive and profound' CATHY RENTZENBRINK 'Greatness so often comes at the expense of what is enjoyable. Long Island Compromise is both, and then some' IPAPER 'Exuberant and absorbing' ATLANTIC PRAISE FOR FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE : ' There is no one that this book isn't for . . . Pure brilliance' INDIA KNIGHT, THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Could be one of the books of my entire lifetime. I've never felt so seen' GRACE DENT, GUARDIAN ' Sharp and wicked, insightful and funny, and then suddenly so touching' DAVID NICHOLLS 'A work of utter perfection' ELIZABETH GILBERT [FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE was a Sunday Times bestseller (UK) in August 2019 and a New York Times bestseller (USA) in June 2019]

'Is this book as good [as Fleishman ]? It's better' THE NEW YORK TIMES 'The best book I've read this year' HARLAN COBEN 'Very, very good' ELIZABETH DAY 'The book of the summer, nay, the year' DAVID SEDARIS 'This book is DYNAMITE. Inhaled it in two sittings' CAITLIN MORAN 'Shocking, tender, profound and delicious' EMILY MAITLIS 'Lavishly comic' THE TIMES 'A lip-smacking tale' GUARDIAN 'Elegant and devastating' FINANCIAL TIMES From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble comes a darkly exhilarating novel about an American family and its inheritance - the safety and wealth that they fought for, and the precarity of their survival that is their legacy. In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalised and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife, kids and exquisite Long Island home less than a week later, and the family moves on with their gilded lives. But now, nearly forty years later, it seems that nobody ever got over anything, after all. With a death in the family, the hidden struggles of the Fletchers come bubbling to the surface. Carl has spent years secretly seeking closure to the mystery of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has given up everything to protect her husband's fragile emotional health and keep the business thriving. Their three grown children aren't doing much better: Nathan's chronic existential fear won't allow him to advance at his law fi rm; Beamer, a failing Hollywood screenwriter, will consume anything - substances, food, women - at any cost; and Jenny, with her brilliant mind, is desperate to prove she is not anything like her family by working in trade unions (whilst still receiving quarterly payouts from the family business). Money was what put the Fletchers in danger, but it has also protected them - until now... Long Island Compromise spans generations, winding through decades of history all the way through to the wild present, dealing along the way with all the mainstays of American Jewish life and the timeless questions about wealth, trauma, and the American soul. MORE PRAISE FOR LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE : 'The status book you'll want to be seen with' STYLIST '[A] scabrous satire' THE NEW YORKER 'This author's talents are boundless' LA TIMES 'Substantive and profound' CATHY RENTZENBRINK 'Greatness so often comes at the expense of what is enjoyable. Long Island Compromise is both, and then some' IPAPER 'Exuberant and absorbing' ATLANTIC PRAISE FOR FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE : ' There is no one that this book isn't for . . . Pure brilliance' INDIA KNIGHT, THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Could be one of the books of my entire lifetime. I've never felt so seen' GRACE DENT, GUARDIAN ' Sharp and wicked, insightful and funny, and then suddenly so touching' DAVID NICHOLLS 'A work of utter perfection' ELIZABETH GILBERT [FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE was a Sunday Times bestseller (UK) in August 2019 and a New York Times bestseller (USA) in June 2019]

'Is this book as good [as Fleishman ]? It's better' THE NEW YORK TIMES 'The best book I've read this year' HARLAN COBEN 'Very, very good' ELIZABETH DAY 'The book of the summer, nay, the year' DAVID SEDARIS 'This book is DYNAMITE. Inhaled it in two sittings' CAITLIN MORAN 'Shocking, tender, profound and delicious' EMILY MAITLIS 'Lavishly comic' THE TIMES 'A lip-smacking tale' GUARDIAN 'Elegant and devastating' FINANCIAL TIMES From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble comes a darkly exhilarating novel about an American family and its inheritance - the safety and wealth that they fought for, and the precarity of their survival that is their legacy. In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalised and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife, kids and exquisite Long Island home less than a week later, and the family moves on with their gilded lives. But now, nearly forty years later, it seems that nobody ever got over anything, after all. With a death in the family, the hidden struggles of the Fletchers come bubbling to the surface. Carl has spent years secretly seeking closure to the mystery of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has given up everything to protect her husband's fragile emotional health and keep the business thriving. Their three grown children aren't doing much better: Nathan's chronic existential fear won't allow him to advance at his law fi rm; Beamer, a failing Hollywood screenwriter, will consume anything - substances, food, women - at any cost; and Jenny, with her brilliant mind, is desperate to prove she is not anything like her family by working in trade unions (whilst still receiving quarterly payouts from the family business). Money was what put the Fletchers in danger, but it has also protected them - until now... Long Island Compromise spans generations, winding through decades of history all the way through to the wild present, dealing along the way with all the mainstays of American Jewish life and the timeless questions about wealth, trauma, and the American soul. MORE PRAISE FOR LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE : 'The status book you'll want to be seen with' STYLIST '[A] scabrous satire' THE NEW YORKER 'This author's talents are boundless' LA TIMES 'Substantive and profound' CATHY RENTZENBRINK 'Greatness so often comes at the expense of what is enjoyable. Long Island Compromise is both, and then some' IPAPER 'Exuberant and absorbing' ATLANTIC PRAISE FOR FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE : ' There is no one that this book isn't for . . . Pure brilliance' INDIA KNIGHT, THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Could be one of the books of my entire lifetime. I've never felt so seen' GRACE DENT, GUARDIAN ' Sharp and wicked, insightful and funny, and then suddenly so touching' DAVID NICHOLLS 'A work of utter perfection' ELIZABETH GILBERT [FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE was a Sunday Times bestseller (UK) in August 2019 and a New York Times bestseller (USA) in June 2019]

'Is this book as good [as Fleishman ]? It's better' THE NEW YORK TIMES 'The best book I've read this year' HARLAN COBEN 'Very, very good' ELIZABETH DAY 'The book of the summer, nay, the year' DAVID SEDARIS 'This book is DYNAMITE. Inhaled it in two sittings' CAITLIN MORAN 'Shocking, tender, profound and delicious' EMILY MAITLIS 'Lavishly comic' THE TIMES 'A lip-smacking tale' GUARDIAN 'Elegant and devastating' FINANCIAL TIMES From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble comes a darkly exhilarating novel about an American family and its inheritance - the safety and wealth that they fought for, and the precarity of their survival that is their legacy. In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway in the nicest part of the nicest part of Long Island. He is brutalised, held for ransom and then returned to his family. Miraculously, Carl, his wife and his three kids are left to move on with their lives, and resume their prized places in the ongoing saga of the American dream. But nearly forty years later, when Carl's mother dies, the trauma that has been bubbling beneath the Fletchers' lives all this time surfaces at last. It becomes apparent that Carl has been quietly pursuing closure to the kidnapping for all these years, and his wife and children must face that the money that they believed bought them safety was actually never capable of doing any such thing. Long Island Compromise spans generations, winding through decades of history all the way through to the wild present, dealing along the way with all the mainstays of American Jewish life and the timeless questions about wealth, trauma, and the American soul. MORE PRAISE FOR LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE : 'The status book you'll want to be seen with' STYLIST '[A] scabrous satire' THE NEW YORKER 'More than a delight' NEW STATESMAN 'This author's talents are boundless' LA TIMES 'Substantive and profound' CATHY RENTZENBRINK 'Greatness so often comes at the expense of what is enjoyable. Long Island Compromise is both, and then some' IPAPER 'Exuberant and absorbing' ATLANTIC PRAISE FOR FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE : ' There is no one that this book isn't for . . . Pure brilliance' INDIA KNIGHT, THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Could be one of the books of my entire lifetime. I've never felt so seen' GRACE DENT, GUARDIAN ' Sharp and wicked, insightful and funny, and then suddenly so touching' DAVID NICHOLLS 'A work of utter perfection' ELIZABETH GILBERT [FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE was a Sunday Times bestseller (UK) in August 2019 and a New York Times bestseller (USA) in June 2019]

'Is this book as good [as Fleishman ]? It's better' THE NEW YORK TIMES 'The best book I've read this year' HARLAN COBEN 'Very, very good' ELIZABETH DAY 'The book of the summer, nay, the year' DAVID SEDARIS 'This book is DYNAMITE. Inhaled it in two sittings' CAITLIN MORAN 'Shocking, tender, profound and delicious' EMILY MAITLIS 'Lavishly comic' THE TIMES 'A lip-smacking tale' GUARDIAN 'Elegant and devastating' FINANCIAL TIMES From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble comes a darkly exhilarating novel about an American family and its inheritance - the safety and wealth that they fought for, and the precarity of their survival that is their legacy. In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway in the nicest part of the nicest part of Long Island. He is brutalised, held for ransom and then returned to his family. Miraculously, Carl, his wife and his three kids are left to move on with their lives, and resume their prized places in the ongoing saga of the American dream. But nearly forty years later, when Carl's mother dies, the trauma that has been bubbling beneath the Fletchers' lives all this time surfaces at last. It becomes apparent that Carl has been quietly pursuing closure to the kidnapping for all these years, and his wife and children must face that the money that they believed bought them safety was actually never capable of doing any such thing. Long Island Compromise spans generations, winding through decades of history all the way through to the wild present, dealing along the way with all the mainstays of American Jewish life and the timeless questions about wealth, trauma, and the American soul. MORE PRAISE FOR LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE : 'The status book you'll want to be seen with' STYLIST '[A] scabrous satire' THE NEW YORKER 'More than a delight' NEW STATESMAN 'This author's talents are boundless' LA TIMES 'Substantive and profound' CATHY RENTZENBRINK 'Greatness so often comes at the expense of what is enjoyable. Long Island Compromise is both, and then some' IPAPER 'Exuberant and absorbing' ATLANTIC PRAISE FOR FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE : ' There is no one that this book isn't for . . . Pure brilliance' INDIA KNIGHT, THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Could be one of the books of my entire lifetime. I've never felt so seen' GRACE DENT, GUARDIAN ' Sharp and wicked, insightful and funny, and then suddenly so touching' DAVID NICHOLLS 'A work of utter perfection' ELIZABETH GILBERT [FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE was a Sunday Times bestseller (UK) in August 2019 and a New York Times bestseller (USA) in June 2019]

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - An exhilarating novel about one American family and the dark moment that shatters their suburban paradise, from the New York Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice - New York Magazine's Beach Read Book Club Pick - Belletrist Book Club Pick A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, Time, The Washington Post, NPR, Vogue, Town & Country, New York Post, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Parade, Kirkus Reviews "Joins the pantheon of great American novels."-- Los Angeles Times "Exuberant and absorbing . . . a big old-fashioned social novel."-- The Atlantic "Were we gangsters? No. But did we know how to start a fire?" In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalized, and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids less than a week later, only slightly the worse, and the family moves on with their lives, resuming their prized places in the saga of the American dream, comforted in the realization that though their money may have been what endangered them, it is also what assured them their safety. But now, nearly forty years later, it's clear that perhaps nobody ever got over anything, after all. Carl has spent the ensuing years secretly seeking closure to the matter of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has spent her potential protecting her husband's emotional health. Their three grown children aren't doing much better: Nathan's chronic fear won't allow him to advance at his law firm; Beamer, a Hollywood screenwriter, will consume anything--substance, foodstuff, women--in order to numb his own perpetual terror; and Jenny has spent her life so bent on proving that she's not a product of her family's pathology that she has come to define it. As they hover at the delicate precipice of a different kind of survival, they learn that the family fortune has dwindled to just about nothing, and they must face desperate questions about how much their wealth has played a part in both their lives' successes and failures. Long Island Compromise spans the entirety of one family's history, winding through decades and generations, all the way to the outrageous present, and confronting the mainstays of American Jewish life: tradition, the pursuit of success, the terror of history, fear of the future, old wives' tales, evil eyes, ambition, achievement, boredom, dybbuks, inheritance, pyramid schemes, right-wing capitalists, beta-blockers, psychics, and the mostly unspoken love and shared experience that unite a family forever.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - An exhilarating novel about one American family and the dark moment that shatters their suburban paradise, from the New York Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice - New York Magazine's Beach Read Book Club Pick - Belletrist Book Club Pick A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, Time, The Washington Post, NPR, Vogue, Town & Country, New York Post, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Parade, Kirkus Reviews "Joins the pantheon of great American novels."-- Los Angeles Times "Exuberant and absorbing . . . a big old-fashioned social novel."-- The Atlantic "Were we gangsters? No. But did we know how to start a fire?" In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalized, and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids less than a week later, only slightly the worse, and the family moves on with their lives, resuming their prized places in the saga of the American dream, comforted in the realization that though their money may have been what endangered them, it is also what assured them their safety. But now, nearly forty years later, it's clear that perhaps nobody ever got over anything, after all. Carl has spent the ensuing years secretly seeking closure to the matter of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has spent her potential protecting her husband's emotional health. Their three grown children aren't doing much better: Nathan's chronic fear won't allow him to advance at his law firm; Beamer, a Hollywood screenwriter, will consume anything--substance, foodstuff, women--in order to numb his own perpetual terror; and Jenny has spent her life so bent on proving that she's not a product of her family's pathology that she has come to define it. As they hover at the delicate precipice of a different kind of survival, they learn that the family fortune has dwindled to just about nothing, and they must face desperate questions about how much their wealth has played a part in both their lives' successes and failures. Long Island Compromise spans the entirety of one family's history, winding through decades and generations, all the way to the outrageous present, and confronting the mainstays of American Jewish life: tradition, the pursuit of success, the terror of history, fear of the future, old wives' tales, evil eyes, ambition, achievement, boredom, dybbuks, inheritance, pyramid schemes, right-wing capitalists, beta-blockers, psychics, and the mostly unspoken love and shared experience that unite a family forever.