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The New Life of Hugo Gardner

A Novel

A Novel

By Louis Begley

By Louis Begley

By Louis Begley

By Louis Begley

Best Seller
Hardcover $25.95

Mar 17, 2020 | ISBN 9780385545624

Ebook $13.99

Mar 17, 2020 | ISBN 9780385545679

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    The New Life of Hugo Gardner by Louis Begley
    Hardcover $25.95
    Mar 17, 2020 | ISBN 9780385545624

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    About The New Life of Hugo Gardner

    Beloved author Louis Begley returns to the monied halls of the Upper East Side with a sharp new comedy of manners. Divorced after decades of comfortable marriage, retired journalist Hugo Gardner sets out to explore paths not travelled.

    After four decades of what he believes to be a happy, healthy partnership, Hugo Gardner’s world is overturned when he learns that his wife, Valerie, is not only requesting a divorce but has left him for a younger, more vital man. Hugo, an octogenarian political writer and retired journalist for Time, must rethink the way he’s lived, and reassess how he’d like to spend his remaining years.
         Reconsidering past relationships in his mind, with years of distance, Hugo begins to see things in a new light: Valerie, whose youth and ambition eventually came between them; his children, whose support might be more financially than emotionally motivated; and his friends, who, like him are rapidly aging before his very eyes. With an ominous oncologist’s report hanging over his head, Hugo decides to get away for a bit, to a conference in Paris. There, a new romance blooms and Hugo finds himself wondering if growing old in Paris might be the perfect antidote to the drama he left behind in New York.
         Unflinching, witty, and urbane as ever, Louis Begley delivers a spot-on satire of the world of New York’s aging elite, and uncovers the unexpected delights a late-in-life change can offer.

    About The New Life of Hugo Gardner

    Beloved author Louis Begley returns to the monied halls of the Upper East Side with a sharp new comedy of manners. Divorced after decades of comfortable marriage, retired journalist Hugo Gardner sets out to explore paths not travelled.

    After four decades of what he believes to be a happy, healthy partnership, Hugo Gardner’s world is overturned when he learns that his wife, Valerie, is not only requesting a divorce but has left him for a younger, more vital man. Hugo, an octogenarian political writer and retired journalist for Time, must rethink the way he’s lived, and reassess how he’d like to spend his remaining years.
         Reconsidering past relationships in his mind, with years of distance, Hugo begins to see things in a new light: Valerie, whose youth and ambition eventually came between them; his children, whose support might be more financially than emotionally motivated; and his friends, who, like him are rapidly aging before his very eyes. With an ominous oncologist’s report hanging over his head, Hugo decides to get away for a bit, to a conference in Paris. There, a new romance blooms and Hugo finds himself wondering if growing old in Paris might be the perfect antidote to the drama he left behind in New York.
         Unflinching, witty, and urbane as ever, Louis Begley delivers a spot-on satire of the world of New York’s aging elite, and uncovers the unexpected delights a late-in-life change can offer.

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Also by Louis Begley

    Killer's Choice
    Kill and Be Killed
    Killer, Come Hither
    Memories of a Marriage
    Schmidt Steps Back
    See all books by Louis Begley

    Also by Louis Begley

    Killer's Choice
    Kill and Be Killed
    Killer, Come Hither
    Memories of a Marriage
    Schmidt Steps Back
    See all books by Louis Begley

    About Louis Begley

    Louis Begley’s novels include Memories of a Marriage, Schmidt Steps Back, Matters of Honor, Shipwreck, Schmidt Delivered, Mistler’s Exit, About Schmidt, As Max Saw It, The Man Who Was Late, and Wartime Lies, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize. His latest novel, Kill and… More about Louis Begley

    About Louis Begley

    Louis Begley’s novels include Memories of a Marriage, Schmidt Steps Back, Matters of Honor, Shipwreck, Schmidt Delivered, Mistler’s Exit, About Schmidt, As Max Saw It, The Man Who Was Late, and Wartime Lies, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize. His latest novel, Kill and… More about Louis Begley

    Product Details

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Hardcover | $25.95
    Published by Nan A. Talese
    Mar 17, 2020 | 224 Pages | 5-5/8 x 8-1/4 | ISBN 9780385545624

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $13.99
    Published by Nan A. Talese
    Mar 17, 2020 | 224 Pages | ISBN 9780385545679

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    Praise

    “Wily and adept . . . With discerning, amusing, and cutting commentary on everything from food and wine to politics, sex, and the right to die with dignity, Begley seduces and provokes with fiercely urbane wit.”
    —Booklist

    “Begley turns in a spry, unerringly smooth performance . . . A sharply amusing novel in which an octogenarian pundit rediscovers his past.”
    —Kirkus

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