The Amateur

There but for the grace of God go the rest of us feral ‘70s kids. Mira Winston stands out at her swanky suburban New York golf club as a teenager who can beat older women at the game and who seeks out men to play against so she can have some competition. If she’s not the most sociable, she doesn’t care; it’s all about golf, which also provides an escape from her parent’s drinking and indifference. She’s off to Yale this fall, until during practice she hits a ball through the net and kills a caddy, a less-well-off boy her age whom she knew in passing at school. Everyone assures her it was a freak accident. Even her lawyer-father is sure the net manufacturer or the Talmadge club will be held liable, if anyone. But Mira’s earlier bratty behavior and her attraction to much older men doesn’t help her in the town’s eyes, nor does an equipment problem that comes to light, and soon fingers are pointing. Bohjalian is as always a master of the inner voice, and in this faux-memoir by Mira, he drops readers into her turmoil as talent and languid privilege meet the real world. Readers will remember the did-she-or-didn’t-she tension in Bohjalian’s Midwives, which is reflected here, but fans of all his books will eat this up; it’s also great for readers of Anita Shreve and Jodi Picoult.—Henrietta Thornton