Nothing to Declare
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Sex. Drugs. Revolution. Grilled tuna.
“Nothing To Declare is truly wonderful. The searing romantic/political/artistic triangle at its center movingly evokes the strange and wonderful Santa Cruz garden of my youth. I loved it.”
—David Talbot, author of The New York Times’ bestsellers, Brothers, and The Devil's Chessboard, and national bestseller Season of the Witch
Jesse Kerf’s a good guy restaurant owner who’s got his life just so. Flash L.A. bistro, spiffy BMW, all-white condo with an ocean view. Then comes a bombshell. He’s been named sole heir to Marty Balakian, the wild man and con artist who used to be his best friend. Never mind they haven’t had a single word in twenty years.
In the 1970s, Marty was everything Jesse wanted to be—a brilliant and fearless dreamer who let no one stand in his way. Not Jesse, and not Isabel, the dark-souled woman they both loved. Laws were there to be broken, and hearts, too. Jesse couldn’t be that hard. Until he had to.
Marty’s death forces Jesse to reckon with the past he’s been running from for two decades. Between that long-ago love triangle, a trip that leads from Boston to Bali, and the burden of secrets held too long, Jesse’s got a lot to handle. Before he can get his life on track, he must figure out not just who he was, but who he wants to be from now on.
Driven by a fast-moving plot, rich characters and a canny portrait of a culture in revolt, Richard M. Ravin’s Nothing to Declare is a lively and engaging novel packed with romance, humor, betrayal, and discovery.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An unexpected inheritance forces a reckoning with the past in Ravin's calculated debut. In 1990, 30-something restaurateur Jesse Kerf learns he has been listed as next of kin for his former best friend Marty Balakian, despite having not spoken to him for years. He travels from Los Angeles to New Hampshire, where a lawyer explains Marty left him more than $8 million from his enterprise selling term papers to college students. The narration flashes back to spring 1973, when Jesse, then a desultory art student, and Marty impetuously move from Boston to Santa Cruz, Calif., where their attention is drawn to war protests, feminist demonstrations, and women on nude beaches. Their lives become complicated after Jesse meets VW-driving Emily Savonne at the end of the year; they date until the following summer, after she forms a triad with Marty and his girlfriend, Isabel Lantana. When Emily and Marty flee to Indonesia, a jilted Isabel launches a short affair with Jesse, but Marty's return and ambitious plan for a clothing store has serious repercussions. While the plot can feel a little mechanical, Ravin adds a nice touch with snippets of narration from the deceased Marty. Readers with memories of the hippie dream will appreciate this rumination. (Self-published)
