Description

Good Company: A Novel

by Kate Christensen
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780063464313

Julia Heimdahl has spent most of her life making other people comfortable.

Ever since a childhood heartbreak left a lasting mark, she has perfected the art of being “good company” for difficult men: agreeable, witty, accommodating, and endlessly willing to smooth over discomfort. As a literary novelist navigating late middle age and a career that feels increasingly uncertain, Julia has become accustomed to putting others first while ignoring her own desires.

But that carefully constructed balance is about to unravel.

Invited back to her alma mater for a weekend-long literary festival, Julia arrives to promote her newly published memoir and reconnect with the academic world that helped shape her. What begins as a routine professional appearance quickly becomes something far more complicated when she is paired on a panel with Ellis Blackwell, a charismatic memoirist whose relentless charm and flattery conceal something far more troubling beneath the surface.

Over the course of the weekend, Julia finds herself confronting not only Ellis but also ghosts from her own past. Encounters with former lovers, mentors, rivals, editors, and students force her to reevaluate the choices that have defined her life and career. Interwoven with excerpts from her memoir, these reflections reveal long-buried wounds, missed opportunities, and unresolved questions about love, ambition, sexuality, and self-worth.

As old patterns come under scrutiny, Julia must decide whether continuing to be “good company” is worth the personal cost, or whether it is finally time to claim the life she truly wants.

Sharp, insightful, and darkly funny, Good Company is a powerful literary novel about power, desire, aging, creativity, and the lifelong process of understanding oneself.