A Long Island Story

Rick Gekoski Canongate €16 It’s the long, hot summer of 1953, and the McCarthy witch-hunt is at its height. Forced out of his job in the Department of Justice in Washington, Left-wing lawyer Ben Grossman moves his family to bland, suburban Long Island, where his in-laws live. Faced with an uncertain future, Ben and his wife begin questioning their life’s choices. It’s the archetypal marriage-in-crisis novel. What Gekoski brings to this overworked genre is subtlety and restraint, crafting an affectionate portrait of Jewish family life across the generations. A quiet story, it’s economically told and freighted with resonant themes.