THE FORTUNATE ONES

A hefty political page-turner about what it means to have money and how we fall in love with it.

Tarkington begins his pungent political drama with an epigraph from Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, announcing his lofty intentions before the novel proper has even begun. By turns sprawling and intimate, the book looks at the blessing and curse of Southern noblesse oblige through the eyes of those who have and those who don’t. Arch Creigh got his leg up from a new-money uncle, and he sees his future in the realm of Republican politics in his native Nashville. His boyhood friend, also the story’s narrator, is Charlie Boykin, a conscientious poor kid with a young, pretty mom and only a few scruples about accepting a helping hand. Tarkington is a gifted storyteller, largely because he knows how to let his finely developed characters do the heavy lifting. Money isn’t all that separates the novel’s nouveau riche from its reluctant strivers. There’s also the matter of idealism, always an iffy prospect in politics; and authenticity, which grows elusive as fine living and friends in high places seduce and destroy what lies in their paths. Charlie, who didn’t grow up with money, essentially falls in love with what and whom it represents, including Arch’s wife, Vanessa. Tarkington weaves in some scandal—an affair, an abortion, and enough secrets to keep readers guessing. But he’s not just prompting the next page turn. The novel is concerned with what lies beneath both the best intentions and worst impulses. There’s a tantalizingly thin line between love and desire here. Mistaking one for the other is easy. It’s also catastrophic.

An impressive literary balancing act that entertains as it enriches.