NAMED ONE OF THE NEW YORKERS BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR SO FAR. Stylish and assured....Ebbotts prose is honed and aphoristic, recalling the work of James Salter and John Cheever...The sentences go down easy...but there is substance beneath the gleaming surfaces. Washington PostAcutely perceptive and beautifully written...A living thing...A huge achievement. The Financial TimesFinely calibrated...As discerning as it is pitiless. The New YorkerWhat begins as celebration gives way to betrayal, shattering the trust between two familiesIts an autumn weekend at a comfortable New York country house where two deeply intertwined families have gathered to mark the hosts fifty-second birthday.Together, the group forms an enviable portrait of middle age. The wives and husbands have been friends for over thirty years, their teenage daughters have grown up together, and the dinners, games, and rituals forming their days all reflect the rich bonds between them.This weekend, however, something is different. An unforeseen curdling of envy and resentment will erupt in an unspeakable act, the aftermath of which exposes treacherous fault lines upon which they have long dwelt.Written with hypnotic elegance and molten precision, and announcing the arrival of a major literary talent, Hal Ebbotts Among Friends examines betrayal within the sanctuary of a defining relationship, as well as themes of class, marriage, friendship, power, and the things we tell ourselves to preserve our finely made worlds.
