At Last by Edward St Aubyn - Books

At Last

By Edward St Aubyn Fiction & Literature 08/05/2018

“One of the most amazing reading experiences I’ve had in a decade. . . . [St Aubyn’s] great at dissecting an entire social world with a really wicked scalpel.” —Michael Chabon, The Los Angeles Times

Now a five-part Showtime series Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Blythe Danner

For Patrick Melrose, “family” has always been a double-edged sword. At Last begins as friends, relatives, and foes trickle in to pay final respects to his mother, Eleanor. An American heiress, Eleanor married into the British aristocracy, giving up the grandeur of her upbringing for “good works” freely bestowed on everyone but her own son, who finds himself questioning whether his transition to a life without parents will indeed be the liberation he had so long imagined.

The service ends, and family and friends gather for a final party. Amid the social niceties and social horrors, Patrick begins to sense the prospect of release from the extremes of his childhood, and at the end of the day, alone in his room, the promise some form of safety . . . at last.

“Remarkable.” —Francine Prose, The New York Times Book Review

“It’s pretty much a lock to be one of the funniest, saddest, most beautiful books of the year.” —Lev Grossman, Time

“An intelligent and surprisingly hopeful novel, a fitting conclusion to one of the best fictional cycles in contemporary fiction.” —Anthony Domestico, The Boston Globe

“Delightfully packed with gross privilege, dysfunction, and savage humor.” —Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn, The Paris Review

“Stunning . . . Deeply affecting.” —Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

“Sparkling . . . With the wit of Wilde, the lightness of Wodehouse, and the waspishness of Waugh.” —Zadie Smith, Harper’s