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Published Sep 2015
320 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
"When I look back now, it hurtles toward us like a meteor. But at the time we were too wrapped up in our day-to-day life to see it. Charlie and I lived in a borrowed house by the ocean. Our daughter, Sarah, was fifteen months old. September had just arrived, emptying the beaches at the very moment they became most spectacular."
Brett has been in love with Charlie ever since he took her skiing on a lovely Colorado night fourteen years ago. And now, living in a seaside cottage on Cape Cod with their young daughter, it looks as if they have settled into the life they desired. However, Brett and Charlie's marriage has been tenuous for quite some time. When Charlie's unstable younger brother plans to move in with them, the tension simmering under the surface of their marriage boils over.
But what happened to Charlie next was unfathomable. Charlie was the golden boy so charismatic that he charmed everyone who crossed his path; who never shied away from a challenge; who saw life as one big adventure; who could always rescue his troubled brother, no matter how unpredictable the situation.
So who is to blame for the tragic turn of events? And why does Brett feel responsible?
Set against the desolate autumn beauty of Cape Cod, The Last September is a riveting emotional puzzle that takes readers inside the psyche of a woman facing the meaning of love and loyalty.
"A moody murder mystery ... But it is also an emotionally intense study of how a transcendent love becomes a fraying marriage ... A fine literary whodunit from an accomplished storyteller." - Kirkus
"Set in Cape Cod amid the 'matte autumn sunlight and burnished eel grass,' this is slow-paced but atmospheric reading." - Booklist
"Brilliant rendering of love story, murder mystery, pitch-perfect study of horrific 'ordinary' mental illness, and that rare coming of age novel that deals with adults, who actually do come of age in the most difficult ways." - Brad Watson, author of Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives
"The Last September is a wonderful, glowing book populated by characters that become a part of your life long after the last page has been turned. It is the type of novel writers admire and readers long for." - Jason Mott, author of The Returned
"Nina De Gramont's The Last September portrays an immediately gripping world of secrets, trauma, and conflicting loyalties ... A literary novel of both suspense and emotion, this flashback-filled murder mystery has broad appeal."- Foreword Reviews
"A convincing and suspenseful novel, well-written, precise, and poignant in its depiction of human nature in dire distress." - Sheila Kohler, author of Dreaming for Freud
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