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Title details for Virtue by Hermione Hoby - Available

Virtue

A Novel

by Hermione Hoby
Kirby Heyborne
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
Named a Summer Must Read by Wall Street Journal, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Esquire, Bustle, Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Refinery29, and more

“[Hoby] might have just written the defining New York City novel of our fraught, socially anxious, and politically tumultuous times.” —Interview
 
“Intense and addictive.” —New York Times
A powerful novel of youth, desire, and moral conflict, in which a young man is seduced by the mirage of glamour—at terrible cost.
Arriving in New York City for an internship at an elite but fading magazine, Luca feels invisible: smart but not worldly, privileged but broke, and uncertain how to navigate a new era of social change. Among his peers is Zara, a young Black woman whose sharp wit and frank views on injustice create tension in the office, especially in the wake of a shock election that’s irrevocably destabilized American life. In the months that follow, as the streets of New York fill with pink-hatted protesters and the magazine faces a changing of the guard, Luca is taken under the wing of an attractive and wealthy white couple—Paula, a prominent artist, and Jason, her filmmaker husband—whose lifestyle he finds both alien and alluring.
With the coming of summer, Luca is swept up in the fever dream of their marriage, accepting an invitation to join the couple and their children at their beach house, and nurturing an infatuation both frustrating and dangerous. Only after he learns of a spectacular tragedy in the city he has left behind does he begin to realize the moral consequences of his allegiances.
In language at once lyrical and incisive, Virtue offers a clear-eyed, unsettling story of the allure of privilege and the costs of complacency, from a writer of astonishing acuity and vision.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 20, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593413470
      • File size: 301171 KB
      • Duration: 10:27:26

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 31, 2021
      Hoby (Neon in Daylight) delivers an accomplished take on class and protests against racial injustice. “That was just what you did on weekends—brunch and protest,” Luca Lewis wryly narrates in 2027, looking back on his time interning at a New York City magazine as a naive 22-year-old in 2016–2017. He yearns to befriend fellow intern Zara McKing, an attractive Black woman, but feels ashamed of his whiteness and unsure of how to be an ally. Luca also becomes enamored with Paula Summers, an artist working at the magazine, and her indie filmmaker husband, Jason Frank, and spends the summer with the couple and their five kids in Maine as Paula and Jason fight over how to respond to racial injustice (in the city, Jason took the kids to protests; in Maine, Paula insists on carrying on traditions such as a Fourth of July parade). Toward the end of the summer, Luca learns of a tragedy involving Zara during a protest. Hoby’s writing sparks with inventiveness (“The sky had a passive-aggressive quality, bruised clouds withholding their light while telling you they were fine”), and she offers insights on the damage of power imbalances in relationships. This speaks volumes on the shallowness of white privilege. Agent: Marya Spence, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Kirby Heyborne's top-notch narration distinguishes between the remembrances of Luca in 2027 and the bumbling 22-year-old he was during the turbulent period after the 2016 election. Hired as an intern at a prestigious New York magazine, Luca, an innocent from the Midwest, is easily seduced by the glitz and glamour of the big city. Heyborne highlights Luca's na�vet�; his attraction to Zara, the magazine's only black employee; his awakening to social injustices; and his infatuation with the wealthy A-list couple Paula and Jason. In Luca's nostalgic look back, he reveals his embarrassing shallowness and the disastrous consequences of his inaction. Author Hermione Hoby's descriptions are spot-on, often wry, sometimes funny, and frequently cutting. Heyborne's skillfully nuanced performance makes listening to the audiobook the right choice. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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