Excerpt from The Book of George by Kate Greathead, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"I forgot to buy silverware, and everything's closed," Denis said.

George had recently surpassed Denis in height, and the difference was exaggerated by his standing in the house, which was higher than the stoop, where it appeared Denis planned to remain.

He waited outside while George went to the kitchen, opened the silverware drawer, and plucked out a fork, a knife, and a spoon.

"You can give him more than that," Ellen said. George took out another fork, spoon, knife, and then whatever they had duplicates of: garlic press, carrot peeler, corkscrew.

"What's this?" George held up an instrument.

"Lemon zester," Ellen said. "He can have that."

George put everything in a ziplock bag and returned to the front door.

"This is more than I need," Denis said as George passed him the bounty. "I was thinking just a fork and spoon to hold me over."

"Mom said to give you more," George said.

"Oh. Okay. Well, thank you. I'll bring it back."

"Just keep it," George told him. "We don't need it."

Denis looked as if he were about to protest.

"It's fine," George said. "But I should go back in. We're in the middle of dinner."

George hadn't meant to sound cold.

"Thanks," Denis said, holding up the bag like a prize.

"Enjoy," George responded, and shut the door.

Enjoy.

* * *

When George heard himself say something that was not natural, that sounded like something someone else would say, it troubled him. His goal in life was to be authentic, no matter the consequences. It was the subject of his college essay. After procrastinating, he wrote the whole thing in a single sitting two nights before applications were due to be postmarked.

When he was done, he didn't let anyone read it over, lest he be susceptible to their opinions and suggestions. To alter what he'd written seemed disingenuous, at odds with the spirit of his essay.

George didn't get into either of his top-choice colleges.

"It used to be anyone could get into Harvard or Yale," Ellen told him. "Things are different now. Much more competitive."

George knew he shouldn't be surprised—in the middle of tenth grade he'd pretty much stopped doing homework—but still, it felt like a slight when he wasn't accepted to a single Ivy.

* * *

Later that month, Ellen took the kids to Bermuda, their first trip without Denis. The weather was terrible, and they spent most of the time inside their cottage. Mostly they read books, but sometimes George and Cressida watched TV in one of their rooms.

One afternoon they watched the show Jackass. In one sketch a guy goes to a restaurant and orders a vegetarian platter. After being served he furtively procures a log of human feces he'd brought with him, deposits it on his food, and then summons the waiter to complain that there's something on his plate that looks like a sausage. George noticed Ellen standing in the doorway, looking bewildered.

"What happened to this country?" she asked.

Cressida laughed, but George was embarrassed. He'd always felt implicated in his mother's disgust with lowbrow contemporary culture, as though he were somehow responsible for it by being a member of the generation it was directed toward.

"I'm going for a walk," Ellen told her kids. "In case either of you wants to come…"

She lingered.

"Well, okay," she said, and turned to go.

"I'll come," George said, getting up.

The rain had stopped, but the sky remained bleak.

At the bottom of the path that led to the water, Ellen removed her sandals and placed them neatly beside each other. George kept his sneakers on as he followed her down the beach.

Excerpted from The Book of George by Kate Greathead. Copyright © 2024 by Kate Greathead. Excerpted by permission of Henry Holt and Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.