The Last Enchantments
Charles Finch, 2014
St. Martin's Press
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250018717
Summary
The Last Enchantments is a powerfully moving and lyrically written novel. A young American embarks on a year at Oxford and has an impassioned affair that will change his life forever.
After graduating from Yale, William Baker, scion of an old line patrician family, goes to work in presidential politics. But when the campaign into which he's poured his heart ends in disappointment, he decides to leave New York behind, along with the devoted, ambitious, and well-connected woman he’s been in love with for the last four years.
Will expects nothing more than a year off before resuming the comfortable life he's always known, but he's soon caught up in a whirlwind of unexpected friendships and romantic entanglements that threaten his safe plans. As he explores the heady social world of Oxford, he becomes fast friends with Tom, his snobbish but affable flat mate; Anil, an Indian economist with a deep love for gangster rap; Anneliese, a German historian obsessed with photography; and Timmo, whose chief ambition is to become a reality television star. What he's least prepared for is Sophie, a witty, beautiful and enigmatic woman who makes him question everything he knows about himself.
For readers who made a classic of Richard Yates's A Good School, Charles Finch's The Last Enchantments is a sweeping novel about love and loss that redefines what it means to grow up as an American in the twenty-first century. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1980
• Raised—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Yale University; M.A. Oxford University
• Currently—lives in Chicago, Illinois
Charles Finch is an American author of mystery novels set in Victorian era England. He was born in New York City and graduated from Yale University where he majored in English and History. He also holds a master's degree in Renaissance English Literature from the University of Oxford. He is the grandson of American artist and writer Anne Truitt. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.
His first published novel in 2007, A Beautiful Blue Death, introduced gentleman sleuth Charles Lenox. The book was named one of Library Journal’s Best Books and was nominated for the Agatha Award for best new mystery of 2007. The September Society, Finch's second historical mystery featuring the Charles Lenox character, was published in 2008. The Fleet Street Murders came out in 2009 and was nominated for the Nero Award. A Stranger in Mayfair, the fourth Lenox mystery, was released in 2010. A Burial at Sea, A Death in the Small Hours, and An Old Betrayal were released in 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively.
Finch's first contemporary novel, The Last Enchantments, was published in 2014. He has written for the New York Times and regularly reviews books for the Chicago Tribune and USA Today. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/17/2014.)
Book Reviews
The Last Enchantments is a discover-thy-own-true-self story written by Charles Finch, a Chicago-based author and Printers Row Journal contributor well known for moody mysteries. It succeeds on some levels. It baffles on many more. It is at times wonderfully written and at times not wonderful at all. I harbor affection for the book it might have been.
Beth Kephart - Chicago Tribune
[A] privileged young man stretching his way through the unavoidable emotional growing pains of, well, growing up—is at turns charming and annoying.... Finch is an able narrator, and The Last Enchantments moves quickly. Bank on a focused, four-hour session to sweep through it. You'll have a nice time, but much like college, you won't necessarily want to go back.
Tucker Shaw - Denver Post
Will Baker, formerly a staffer on the failed John Kerry campaign, decides to salve his wounded ego by spending a year at...Oxford.... The strength of Finch’s novel is its vivid portrayal of Oxford University in all its history, along with the school’s ancient and quirky traditions, and colorful student body and faculty. Sadly, readers may find this deft scene-setting wasted on a protagonist as vacuous and aimless as Will.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Young man studies abroad, falls in love with his new surroundings, and meets a beautiful woman: that sounds like the gist of every campus story ever told, but Finch's charming effort distinguishes itself with its personal touch.... Finch's first contemporary novel...often reads less like fiction than as memoir, and will be enjoyed by readers of both —Michael Pucci, South Orange P.L., NJ
Library Journal
[A] lyrical ode to youth, idealism and love in a contemporary novel about a young man's year of graduate studies at Oxford University.... Finch brings each character to life with striking effectiveness as they struggle with issues of class, the political climate, academics and their futures. A portrait of university life that's contemplative and nostalgic.
Kirkus Reviews
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