The Best Kind of People: A Novel

Zoe Whittall

Ballantine Books

The Best Kind of People

Best Kind Of People EXPORT

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Ballantine

Shortlisted for the Giller Prize • A local schoolteacher is arrested, leaving his family to wrestle with the possibility of his guilt, in this exquisite novel about loyalty, truth, and happiness. The Woodburys cherish life in the affluent, bucolic suburb of Avalon Hills, Connecticut. George is a beloved science teacher at the local prep school, a hero who once thwarted a gunman, and his wife, Joan, is a hardworking ER nurse. They have brought up their children in this thriving town of wooded yards and sprawling lakes. Then one night a police car pulls up to the Woodbury home and George is charged with sexual misconduct with students from his daughter’s school. As he sits in prison awaiting trial and claiming innocence, Joan vaults between denial and rage as friends and neighbors turn cold. Their daughter, seventeen-year-old Sadie, is a popular high school senior who becomes a social outcast—and finds refuge in an unexpected place. Her brother, Andrew, a lawyer in New York, returns home to support the family, only to confront unhappy memories from his past. A writer tries to exploit their story, while an unlikely men’s rights activist group attempts to recruit Sadie for their cause. Provocative and unforgettable, The Best Kind of People reveals the cracks along the seams of even the most perfect lives and the unraveling of an American family. Praise for The Best Kind of People “[Zoe] Whittall’s intuitive understanding of human nature makes The Best Kind of People a gripping novel, one that shines a light on family dynamics under extreme pressure.”—The Vancouver Sun “Whittall’s undisputed talent as a writer shines, as does her understanding into the complexity of our sympathies, our morality, and our humanity. With incredible empathy and undeniable skill this book is sure to spark much-needed dialogue, vital debate, and richly deserved acclaim.”—Stacey May Fowles, author of Infidelity “The Best Kind of People examines the effects of rape culture on an entire community with rare nuance and insight. Every character is fully rounded, flawed, and achingly human. It puts me in mind of a twenty-first-century Ordinary People.”—Kate Harding, author of Asking for It“The Best Kind of People gets into the hearts and minds of an ordinary family forced to confront the monstrous. This novel is a timely discussion of what we owe those who abuse and those who are targeted in our communities.”—Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman “This may just be Whittall’s breakout novel, and deservedly so.”—The Winnipeg Review “Taut, compassionate and clever.”—Toronto Star

Hodder&Stoughton Ltd

Literary

House of Anansi Press

<p>The Spectacular begins in the late 1990s. Ruth is 80 and secretly enjoying a hot affair with a widower neighbour in suburban Montreal when she finds out she is dying. She decides to throw herself a farewell party in the seaside village where she spent her childhood, on the Aegean, in Turkey. She hopes to take along Missy, her granddaughter, a cello player in a notorious art-rock orchestra experiencing a wave of commercial success. Missy doesn’t want to stop touring; she’s happy traveling with her best friends, and has a lover in almost every city.But she’s forced to leave the tour after an incident at the border involving a forgotten flap of cocaine. She reluctantly joins Ruth on her journey, even though they disagree in almost every way about what a woman should expect from life—something that keeps them from telling each other a secret that could bring them closer together. We follow Missy and Ruth during three crucial turning points in their lives, via several interlocking narratives, as they negotiate who they wish they could be in a world that doesn’t always give them that freedom.</p>

The Spectacular

Hodder Paperbacks

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Books by Zoe Whittall