The Most

Starred review from May 27, 2024
Anthony (Enter the Aardvark) examines a fraying marriage in her sensational latest. Kathleen Beckett, a former college tennis champion, lives with her husband, Virgil, and two children in the suburbs of 1950s Newark, Del. One Sunday, Kathleen tells Virgil to take the children to church without her. The narrative spans the rest of the day and alternates between Kathleen’s and Virgil’s points of view, gradually revealing the sources of their tension. It turns out Virgil recently ended an affair with a woman named Imogene Monson, and, as the day progresses, Kathleen pieces together the truth while Virgil contends with Imogene’s attempt to win him back. Meanwhile, Virgil’s father digs up dirt on Kathleen, and hints to her that he knows about her affair with her high school tennis instructor. More juicy revelations and surprising twists ensue as Anthony unspools each spouse’s side of the story, and suspense mounts as the clock ticks toward their reunion at home. What makes this exceptional, however, are the distinctive details, such as a tennis strategy called “the most,” inspired by the bombing of a bridge in Czechoslovakia during WWI, in which a player lures their opponent toward the net and then hits a devastating passing shot. Readers won’t want to put this down. Agent: Jim Rutman, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Starred review from July 1, 2024
Can the secrets and misdeeds of a marriage be survived? The events of an unseasonably warm Sunday in November provide the backdrop for Anthony's short, no-holds-barred account of a crucial juncture in the married life of a young couple in 1950s Delaware. As Sputnik 2 and its crew--the doomed "space dog," Laika--orbit the earth, Kathleen and Virgil Beckett are on a collision course of their own. While Virgil brings the couple's two boys to church and looks forward to squeezing in one more late-season round of golf, Kathleen dons an old bathing suit and proceeds to their (somewhat depressing) apartment complex's pool; the only unusual aspect of that sequence of events is Kathleen's refusal to get out of the pool as the afternoon stretches into evening. Over the course of the day, Anthony deftly sketches out each character's backstory and secrets. Virgil has relocated the family from Rhode Island to Newark, Delaware, for a fresh start and new job in the insurance industry in order to correct unacknowledged deficiencies (involving women and alcohol) in his behavior. Kathleen, who had been an accomplished college tennis player noted for her endurance, mulls over her past life and loves as she floats in the pool and decides upon the best tactic to employ in determining the future of her marriage. Complicating the couple's relationship are external forces applied by parents, friends, and old (as well as fairly recent) lovers, but it will be up to Virgil and Kathleen to figure out how much to disclose to each other...once they're on the same course. Anthony's sharply focused portrait of seemingly average lives in midcentury America reveals the complexities of those lives in the course of one balmy day. A novella packing all the imagery and storytelling power of a novel.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 20, 2024
Virgil and Kathleen Beckett and their sons are an unremarkable nuclear family in Newark, Delaware. West Coast transplant Virgil is a natural for the men's club of networked jobs, collegial drinking, and golf. Tall, athletic Kathleen was on the cusp of a pro tennis career but married Virgil instead. It's November 3, 1957. Sputnik 2 orbits with doomed space dog Laika aboard. On this unseasonably warm Sunday, things take a turn when Kathleen reports she's "feeling poorly." She skips church, dons her stretched-out swimsuit, and settles into the kidney-shaped pool in their building's center courtyard. Virgil expects her embarrassing pool stunt will end in time for lunch, dinner at the latest. The pool standoff serves to expose their true relationship, a tense match. He has been the intended recipient of odd phone calls. She has earned the attentions of landlord Cosmo. Readers sit poolside to each character's history and point of view, their mental volleys and calculations. Anthony's (Enter the Aardvark, 2020) latest novel will appeal to readers who enjoy short stories and character-driven plots.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.