The Golden Hour
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
After 46 years in upscale Manhattan, two roaring decades as an investment banker, and 19 years of marriage, Bill Schoenberg has lost it all. He made a mistake, regrettable and unspeakable; and now he’s fled to his neglected house in rural New York. But of instead of losing himself, Bill finds a chance for renewed self-respect and maybe even redemption.
To a man who has thought of little but his own needs, the Harristown Volunteer Fire Company represents an unlikely pursuit—until he has a fire in his house. As Bill struggles with trading his French-cuff shirts for flannel, dressing in a moving fire truck, and learning to knock down forest fires, he must also navigate the darker recesses of his life. His wife may be having an affair with one of his colorful country neighbors, an angry intruder seems to be preying on his property, and his own unmentionable secret is coming closer to the surface the longer he stays in Harristown.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A former master-of-the-universe must test his mettle against local yokels in this deft first-person literary comedy from Weinstock (As Long As She Needs Me). At 46, William "Bull" Schoenberg surrenders his seven-figure salary and Park Avenue trappings along with his adulterous wife, Pippa, after "having disappointed her for 19 years of marriage." With her parting shot, "You're no man," replaying in his gin-soaked brain, Bull plops down cash for a shiny BMW and blows up the Hudson to the sanctuary of their country house (a turreted castle, natch). But Bull finds no comfort there: signs of Pippa's lover mark the house, and Bull's domestic helplessness compounds his midlife misery. When Bull accidentally sets fire to the place with a fifth of gin, the Harristown Volunteer Fire Company arrives to douse the flames. Though the firefighters' contempt for Bull is absolute, the town is strapped for volunteers (and cash), and the firemen let Bull know that they could use a big guy like him once he passes a training course. Bull, eager to find the real man behind the guy who earned his nickname sitting at a computer, agrees. Besides, what else has he to do, other than figure out which of the locals (a firefighter, perhaps?) was bedding his wife? Weinstock's latest is smart, refreshing and great schadenfreude fun. (On sale Jan. 31)
