The Guest Book: A Novel

Instant New York Times BestsellerLonglisted for Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence2020 New England Society Book Award Winner for Fiction?The Guest Book is monumental in a way that few novels dare attempt.? ?The Washington PostThe thought-provoking new novel by New York Times bestselling author Sarah BlakeAn exquisitely written, poignant family saga that illuminates the great divide, the gulf that separates the rich and poor, black and white, Protestant and Jew. Spanning three generations, The Guest Book deftly examines the life and legacy of one unforgettable family as they navigate the evolving social and political landscape from Crockett?s Island, their family retreat off the coast of Maine. Blake masterfully lays bare the memories and mistakes each generation makes while coming to terms with what it means to inherit the past.Review#1 Indie Next List Pick, Now in PaperbackOne of the Best Books of May: Entertainment Weekly, Refinery29, PopSugar, Bookish, BBC, Chicago Review of Books, Real Simple, Goodreads?Thought-provoking and propulsive?Welcome to old money, new heartbreak, big secrets, and the kind of mouthwatering picnics nobody packs in real life (boiled eggs, tin of sandwiches, bottles of gin). But the North Star of Sarah Blake?s The Guest Book isn?t the Milton family?although they are fascinating, even the ghosts?it?s the Maine island cottage where they spend their summers.? ?The New York Times Book Review?Beautifully crafted....The Milton family history, rife with secrets and moral failings, including a deep-seated bigotry, is a timely tale of America itself. An enveloping and moving page-turner.? ?People, Book of the Week?Sarah Blake writes in the historical fiction tradition of someone like Herman Wouk?[She] is an accomplished storyteller, braiding in a large cast of characters and colorful excursions.? ?Maureen Corrigan, NPR?s Fresh Air?An American epic in the truest sense?Blake humanely but grippingly explores the heart of a country whose past is based in prejudice.? ?Entertainment Weekly?Blake masterfully tells the Miltons? history?racism, prejudice, betrayal, loss, and all?and in the process, captures a slice of American history as well.? ?Real Simple?Sarah Blake?s latest novel, The Guest Book, is an engrossing epic that charts the course of the Milton family over three generations, from the 1930s to present day. Pertinent issues that have plagued American history like classism, prejudice, and identity are neatly tied in this transcendent novel.? ?BookRiot?Sarah Blake delivers a juicy multi-generational novel.? ?Chicago Review of Books?It?s a gorgeous book with a strong sense of place, like Empire Falls....If you?re going to read one book this summer make it this modern-day classic.? ?The Missourian?Do you ever pick up a book just to check it out and find yourself lost in it an hour later trying to rearrange your life so you can just keep reading? Well that happened to me this week [with The Guest Book].? ?WYPR, Baltimore?Sarah Blake spins a fascinating epic that touches on privilege and ambition, racism and grief, revealing as much about America?s identity as it does the Miltons.? ?Christian Science Monitor?There are glimmers of To the Lighthouse in Blake?s lyrical and questing new novel.? ?BBC?Sarah Blake is such a beautiful writer she can make any world shimmer, but The Guest Book is particularly fascinating?an intergenerational exploration of memory, identity, love, and family loyalty, of what it costs to inherit a name, a place, and a difficult alignment with history. Powerful and provocative storytelling.? ?Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin?I loved The Guest Book. Sarah Blake has managed the extraordinary feat of writing both an intimate family saga and an ambitious excavation of the subterranean currents of race, class, and power that have shaped America. This is a vivid, transporting novel, written by a master conjuror of tim