Author:Amanda Eyre Ward
A family reunited on a holiday of a lifetime . . . what could possibly go wrong?
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A 2020 REESE WITHERSPOON HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK
When Charlotte Perkins enters the 'Become a Jetsetter' contest, she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee, an almost-famous actress; Cord, a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist; and Regan, a harried mother who has never got over Charlotte's gift of a Weight Watchers voucher for her birthday.
But when she wins that once in a lifetime trip, all doesn't exactly go to plan...
As long-buried secrets are revealed, and lovers new and old appear, can these four lost adults find their way back to each other?
And more importantly, can they do it without killing each other?
A hilarious and deliciously sun-scented novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves and the pleasures and perils of family.
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WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE JETSETTERS
'This is the novel I never realized I absolutely needed! The Jetsetters had me from the very first page!' Amazon Reader
'Funny, yet sensitive and heartbreaking all at the same time. We can all identify with family crisis of some sort. And as we would in our own family, we root for them all, feel their pain and embarrassment, and hope they can put their baggage away and become better people and a new family' Amazon Reader
'What could possibly go wrong on a family cruise? Anything and everything. Funny and a little heart wrenching with characters that will be hard to forget. Happy reading!' Amazon Reader
'Ms. Ward writes at a lively pace as she weaves through the Perkins' trials and tribulations. For any fan of a well-written story that resonates with the reader long after you finish the final page, Ihighly recommend this book' Amazon Reader
'Amanda Eyre Ward creates a great escape. The Perkins family are all a hot mess that you can't help but watch' Amazon Reader
If you're packing for spring break, be sure to include a copy!
—— Reese WitherspoonAt the heart of [Amanda] Ward's comic story of family estrangement and long-buried trauma is the adage 'There's no such thing as a free ride'-but her novel's ultimate destination is both surprising and transporting
—— The New York Times Book ReviewWitty, insightful, and full of heart . . . Defined by a long-ago tragedy and long-held grudges, grievances, and resentments, the Perkins clan has plenty of reasons to keep secrets from one another-secrets that inevitably, over the course of their forced family fun vacay, spill out. . . . The perfect novel to read in a pool lounger as you sip a colorful cocktail. Mediterranean sunset optional
—— Christina Baker Kline, bestselling author of ORPHAN TRAINWhat a joy! Treat yourself to The Jetsetters and let Amanda Eyre Ward's wit, poignancy, and insight take you away. You deserve it. . . . The funniest novel that ever broke your heart
—— Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of LESSHeartwarming, funny, and poignant, The Jetsetters kept me up late turning the pages. . . . Compulsively readable
—— Jean Kwok, bestselling author of SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEEGrabs you from its opening lines. . . . [Murakami's] never written anything more openly emotional.
—— Los Angeles MagazineMurakami is a genius.
—— Chicago TribuneMurakami has an unmatched gift for turning psychological metaphors into uncanny narratives. -
—— The New York Times Book ReviewAn agonizing, sweet story about the power and the pain of love. . . . Immensely deepened by perfect little images that leave much to be filled in by the reader's heart or eye.
—— The Baltimore Sun[Murakami belongs] in the topmost rank of writers of international stature.
—— NewsdayMurakami's true achievement lies in the humor and vision he brings to even the most despairing moments.
—— The New YorkerPerhaps better than any contemporary writer, [Murakami] captures and lays bare the raw human emotion of longing.
—— BookPageMurakami . . . has a deep interest in the alienation of self, which lifts [Sputnik Sweetheart] into both fantasy and philosophy.
—— San Francisco ChronicleNot just a great Japanese writer but a great writer, period.
—— Los Angeles Times Book ReviewSex and Vanity is light-hearted, unadulterated entertainment - ideal for lifting any lingering lockdown blues.
—— CultureflySex and Vanity is a deliciously decadent romp through Manhattan, the Hamptons and the Italian idyll of Capri.
—— Cornelia GuestIf you loved Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians, you are no doubt going to love this story too . . . there is love and gossip and glamour - and what more would you want, really?
—— HerFamily.ieKevin Kwan's witty, frothy and entirely delectableromcom is a sharp but affectionate satire on the luxurious lives of the international smart set.
—— Daily MailExhilaratingly complex and addictive to read…It is Mathilde – quiet, aloof, mysterious – who steals the story.Groff has drawn a woman so complex it seems that with every chapter a new layer is revealed, each as deliciously intriguing as the next…Fates and Furies, all 390 pages of it, had me captivated to the end…Lauren Groff has sculpted a genuinely authentic protagonist in Fates and Furies…The result is a compelling portrait of an unconventional marriage across two decades.
—— StylistA playful and riveting read that questions whether love can be true when it's wrapped in falsehoods.
—— People magazine BOOK OF THE WEEKGroff is an original writer, whose books are daringly nonconformist; she has a sharp gift for mimesis...Admirably, she writes inside and outside history at once, refusing to play safe by merely contouring the known…Fates and Furies refuses to be a conventional domestic novel…[The language is] thrillingly good – precise, lyrical, rich, both worldly and epically transfiguring…The prose is not only beautiful and vigorously alert; it insists on its own heroic registration, and lifts this story of a modern marriage out of the mundane. Even Lotto and Mathilde’s sex is grand and yet wittily figured.
—— James Wood , The New YorkerEven from her impossibly high starting point, Lauren Groff just keeps getting better and better…But her new novel, Fates and Furies, is a clear-the-ground triumph ... Not yet 40, Groff nonetheless captures the complicated ways love blesses, transforms and, yes, deceives us over many years…Groff writes in prose that seems to sigh with both adoration and exasperation. There’s a touch of F. Scott Fitzgerald in this glamorous story… Halfway through, Groff leverages her story in a remarkable and transformative way … A vertiginous ride that will shake your confidence in what you think you know about your spouse — and yourself … Swelling with a contrapuntal symphony of passions, Fates and Furies is that daring novel that seems to reach too high — and then somehow, miraculously, exceeds its own ambitions.
—— Washington PostMy favourite book of 2015 was Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies ... I felt as though I could have gone on reading it forever.
—— Lindsey Kelk, author of ABOUT A GIRLFates and Furies, Lauren Groff’s remarkable new novel, explodes and rages past any such preconceptions, insisting that the examination of a long-term relationship can be a perfect vehicle for exploring no less than the nature of existence – the domestic a doorway to the philosophical…The deepest satisfaction gained by reading “Furies” after “Fates” lies less in admiring how tidily the puzzle pieces snap together – though they do – than in experiencing one’s own kaleidoscopic shift of emotions and concerns…Rare and impressive…The aforementioned wordplay evokes Nabokov…Groff has created a novel of extraordinary and genuine complexity…The word “ambitious” is often used as code for “overly ambitious”, a signal that an author’s execution has fallen short. No such hidden message here. Lauren Groff is a writer of rare gifts, and Fates and Furies is an unabashedly ambitious novel that delivers – with comedy, tragedy, well-deployed erudition and unmistakable glimmers of brilliance throughout.
—— New York TimesFates and Furies is a dazzling novel, its people and its prose wondrously alive from page one. At once intimate and sweeping, this is the story of a marriage as parallel myths-- flaring with passion and betrayal, with redemption and retribution, with the sort of heart-breaking, head-slapping secrets that make you want to seek out someone else who's read it. Lauren Groff is a powerful and graceful writer, one of the best of her generation.
—— Jess Walter, bestselling author of BEAUTIFUL RUINSAudacious and gorgeous…Deliciously voyeuristic but also wise on the simultaneous comforts and indignities of romantic partnership…In her previous work Groff proved herself a deft prose stylist, translating the familiar into the remarkable and transcendent. Fates and Furies further showcases this talent…In Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff has taken the struggles and pleasures of marriage and turned them into art, and in that artfulness she reminds us of the dangers and omissions that any storytelling requires.
—— Los Angeles TimesFates and Furies is devastatingly good, with the most satisfying ending I've read in a long time. The writing is gorgeous, the plot twisting, and the characters are almost too real – the only thing that keeps it from being the Platonic ideal of a novel is that it can only be read for the first time once. The only response that seemed sufficient in the hours after finishing it was to send several dozen roses, a cake, and my heart to Lauren Groff.
—— Sara Taylor, author of THE SHORE[Fates and Furies is] an engrossing portrayal of a marriage and of life – or how a marriage impacts a life – and is packaged into a deeply poetic and engaging novel of two halves… With frequent asides and a love letter to literature, theatre and art in its pages, Lauren Groff has created something truly incredible… It’s a clever, thought-provoking novel that questions the very notion of how possible it is to ever know someone entirely, all told in such a beautifully crafted way that I’m sure many new readings will be found with each much-deserved re-read.
—— Culture FlyIn a swirling miasma of language, plot, and Greek mythology, Groff weaves a fierce and gripping tale of true love gone asunder…Groff's prose is variously dewy, defiant, salacious, and bleak – a hurricane of words thrown together on every page. Yet so much of the power in this book lies in what's unspoken…It's an intoxicating elixir.
—— Publishers Weekly (starred review)Fates and Furies will keep you gripped until the end. It’s a fascinating study of how relationships are sustained and sacrificed…it is sumptuously written at every turn. For an autumn read to get firmly stuck into, look no further.
—— Running in HeelsAn absorbing story of a modern marriage framed in Greek mythology. Groff’s sharply drawn portrait of a marriage begins on a cold Maine beach, with newlyweds “on their knees, now, though the sand was rough and hurt. It didn’t matter. They were reduced to mouths and hands.” This opener ushers in an ambitious, knowing novel besotted with sex – in a kaleidoscope of variety – much more abundant than the commune-dwellers got up to in Groff’s luminous Arcadia (2012). The story centers first on Lancelot “Lotto” Satterwhite, a dashing actor at Vassar, who marries his classmate, flounders, then becomes a famous playwright. Lotto’s name evokes the lottery – and the Fates, as his half of the book is titled. His wife, the imperial and striking Mathilde, takes over the second section, Furies, astir with grief and revenge. The plotting is exquisite, and the sentences hum; Groff writes with a pleasurable, bantering vividness . . . An intricate plot, perfect title, and a harrowing look at the tie that binds.
—— Kirkus (starred review)Fates and Furies captures the vagaries of passion and marriage in ebullient prose.
—— Arifa Akbar , Independent (Best Fiction of 2015)Like a classic tragedy, Groff’s novel offers high drama, hubris, and epic love, complete with Greek chorus–like asides. A singular and compelling literary read, populated with extraordinary characters; highly recommended.
—— Library Journal (starred review)Comparisons to Gone Girl seem on the surface to fit perfectly. We have a golden couple, Lotto and Mathilde, we have a dark past – like Amy, Lotto is an heir to a large fortune. Yet Fates and Furies is far more subtle – Groff is considering the very nature of story-telling itself… I was reminded more than anything of Macarthy’s The Group... The fates and furies who narrate the novel are never intrusive, their interventions are rare and they pass on the whole unnoticed, but I felt that this worked better than a more grandiose presence might have done. Through them, Groff channels a grace for her protagonists – this is not a story of heroes and villains but rather of humans who long to be better than they are.
—— NudgeAn exploration of marriage that turns expectations upside down, all told through the snarkiest omniscient narrator since Thackeray’s Vanity Fair.
—— Guardian (Readers' Books of the Year 2015)A really powerful novel
—— President ObamaFates and Furies is a lyrical and, at times, astonishingly beautiful account of how little it is possible to know about those closest to us
—— Financial Times[An] ingenious novel…buttressed by real emotional power.
—— Mail on Sunday[An] edgy symphony.
—— Independent MagazineThere are two sides to every story and the author delivers both of them with brilliant authenticity. A must read.
—— Town and Country (Christmas List)My favourite book of 2015 was Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies (although I’m sure lots of people will pick this one!). I was given it by a friend and devoured it in two days. I felt as though I could have gone on reading it forever.
—— WH Smith (Books of the Year)Fascinating...a joy to read.
—— SavidgeReadsA truly brilliant book which I completely fell in love with.
—— VogueA forensic dissection of marriage, lyrically told.
—— Alexis Zegerman , Jewish Telegraph