THE LATECOMER

by Jean Hanff Korelitz

I’ll admit, I’m drawn to authors who know how to tell a realistic, compelling story about families and the many relationships that exist between the two parents, each parent and child, and between siblings.  Jean Hanff Korelitz tells an absolutely masterful story of one such family’s intricately complex relationships in The Latecomer. From the moment I read that Salo and Johanna first met at the funeral of Salo’s girlfriend who died in a car he had been driving, I realized this story would be riveting.

Set in the 1970s in New York, Salo and Johanna get married and are among the earliest users of IVF.  They become the parents of triplets. Johanna is besotted with the children and devotes her life to them, even as Salo spends more and more time at work. The children, contrary to popular belief about multiples, never really develop close relationships with one another.  At the point where the kids prepare to leave for college, Johanna decides to have another child.  As the story unfolds, the reader comes to realize that the book’s narrator is this “latecomer” child.

Hanff develops characters that the reader really cares about – even if she can’t always understand their decisions or actions.  This family will tear at your heartstrings and captivate you.  Go ahead and treat yourself: The Latecomer is a great family story that will pull you in and keep you there until the very last page. (Liz)