The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian

1978. In the sleepy New York suburb of Tallmadge, eighteen-year-old Mira Winston is beguiling, talented, and full of youthful recklessness.

She spends her summer perfecting her swing at her parents’ country club – and continuing her long-running affair with her father’s golf buddy, a married man twice her age. Then, one August afternoon, a freak accident occurs, and Mira’s classmate Kenny is killed.

In the days and years that follow, the events of that day become inextricably tied to the choices she has made – with devastating, unpredictable consequences for her family, her neighbours and friends, and Mira herself. She is forced to ask: what happens when one small moment – the swing of a golf club, a stolen kiss, a hastily written note – changes the course of an entire life?Mesmerizing and darkly funny, The Amateur unravels against a backdrop of white-picket-fenced streets, university dorm rooms, smoke-filled restaurants, and elegant country clubs. Turning a sharp eye to the American middle class, it is a hypnotic tale of power, morality, and the weight of blame.