Doug Fanning and Charlotte Graves are having a feud: Doug’s newly constructed monstrosity of a mansion on previously protected, beautiful country landscape represents every bit of Western culture that Charlotte has come to despise. And Doug’s executive position at Union Atlantic, a massive—and failing—American bank, has amounted in her to a pure and solid disgust for everything he represents. As a retired history teacher trapped in the slow process of going insane, Charlotte takes legal action to rezone the land on which Doug’s giant mansion, empty of furniture, looms. And Doug begins to recognize that his allies are dwindling and his enemies are numerous, as we learn the identity of Charlotte’s brother: the President of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

The novel follows this singular story and integrates a telling portrait of the first decade of the new millennium, focusing with intelligence and beautiful storytelling on the current financial crisis, the fall of the American banking system, and Haslett’s ideas about what it means to be American in the 21st century. This book probably serves, thus far, as the landmark novel of our present circumstances. It refuses to be indulgent, or entertaining for the sake of entertainment. Instead, it’s like the best nonfiction…with fictional characters. ~Jared