Letting the House Go by Robert Crooke
"It’s Crooke’s inclusion of this historical fact, in an intriguing domestic fiction about self-discovery, memory, regret and redemption that gives this — his 5th novel — memorable resonance. Not to mention the ear-perfect dialogue of his characters, including the back-and-forth sassing of young children and the wonderfully evocative descriptions of historical North Fork villages and beaches."
-- Joan Baum, Baum on Books (NPR)
"...the solemn novel’s marriage of Long Island lore, art history, and family drama is ultimately a moving one..."
-- KIRKUS REVIEWS
Letting the House Go—a story of love, memory and acceptance—is an intense and relevant new work of literary fiction.
Richard Morris learns that his former wife, Irene, has entered a Long Island hospice and wishes to see him before she dies. Surprisingly, she has named him her executor. For two weeks he embraces his duties, visits Irene’s bedside, and seeks reconciliation with their angry son, Henry. As Irene’s death approaches, family and friends gather to support her. Richard feels drawn ever more deeply into their lives. Yet his place within their circle is uncertain until the final moments of his trip to the past—when he must confront a faulty memory, bitter grievances, and the stunning truth about his life.
BOOK DETAILS
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:978-1-956692-25-9
Publication Date: August 2, 2022
Praise for Robert Crooke
Robert Crooke’s haunting, elegant new novel is a meditation of regret, a contemplation of past sins -- real and imagined – that asks whether cruel and selfish mistakes can be forgiven. Richly detailed descriptions of Long Island and its complex social history make Letting the House Go a first-rate read that affirms our faith in love’s ability to endure.
---ANNE LEIGH PARRISH, author of an open door
Letting the House Go is a compelling voyage of discovery with all the elements that readers of Robert Crooke’s luminous novels have come to expect: telling detail, poetic phrasing, intersections of class, race and gender, and explorations into the deep recesses of the human heart.
---EILEEN CHARBONNEAU, author of Mercies of the Fallen
Letting the House Go will compel you to read it twice: The first, straight through, to discover where and how Richard Morris’s journey will end. The second to savor the lyrical descriptions of Long Island and absorb Robert Crooke’s profound insights into the human heart. His masterful prose guides the reader through a storm of memory and sins not easily forgiven towards faith in the notion that we can change who we are.
---KATIE KING, literary translator of Someone Speaks Your Name and A Form of Resistance, by Luis García Montero
