Jessica Shattuck's novel brings historical events into everyday life and their effects on individuals and families. Spanning the events of the 50's & 60's, Last House is a great read.

This historical fiction is set in the mid 20th century and ends in the near future 21st century. We follow Nick and Bet Taylor and their offspring as they experience the Cold War era, the upheaval of the 1960s, trauma of change, love & loss. This would be a great choice for book clubs!

Last House is more of a family saga that takes place in the past than a true historical fiction, at least as I define them. The story follows Nick Taylor, a lawyer for American Oil, and his wife, Bet and then their children. It begins in 1953 as Nick is just getting started, then hops up to 1968. Bet is the typical suburban wife of the time, giving up her own dreams for being a wife pand mother. When they have the ability to buy a second home in the Vermont countryside in an enclave of Nick’s work buddies, they grab it. As their friend Carter says, if WWIII arrives, what better place to be. The second part of the book is told from their daughter, Catherine’s POV in 1968. Post college, she’s writing for a radical newspaper in NYC.
I went back and forth with this book. Not necessarily because it was uneven, but because it didn’t quite meet my expectations. Initially, I expected it to be more about Iran and I wanted more background for the years leading up to 1953. It would have been helpful if Shattuck had found a way to include some of the history to better explain the political situation of 1953 and why Nick and Carter were over there. But then the story comes back to America and it’s obvious it’s more of a family saga. When it flips to Catherine’s story, Shattuck did do a better job of sliding in the historical info I was seeking.
The characters are all richly drawn and felt very real to me. The book gives an interesting take on how the Greatest Generation raised the Boomers, especially the ones coming of age in the late 1960s.
The book does a good job of asking a lot of questions and would make a wonderful book club selection. It’s very philosophical in dealing with a sort of “the sins of the father” thought process. I found myself highlighting multiple passages because of the way they made me see things in a different light.
My thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow Books for an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. Moving from the 1940’s to 2026, this is a novel that encompasses history, multiple social movements, political turmoil, love stories,dysfunctional families and more. Theses Greatest Generation parents were never prepared to deal with less than “seen but not heard” children. Their children (older Boomers) made themselves heard. They also seemed somewhat clueless in meeting the needs of children who fell outside of archaic and subjective “norms”. I am generalizing somewhat, but don’t want to include spoilers.

We meet Nick Taylor who served in WWII and is now a lawyer. He proposed to his now wife Elizabeth (Bet) basically on the fly (sorry, bad pun) and she accepted. In the early days they barely seem to know each other, but she tries. Bet is a Vassar graduate and was recruited by the government to learn and decode enemy messages during the war. She had dreams of grad school and becoming a writer. I found this part of the book fascinating, but it is not the direction it went. Bet becomes a typical (stereotyped) fifties suburban housewife and the only time she comes close to realizing that dream is when she edits the neighborhood’s book of collected anecdotes and recipes.

Nick is persuaded by a college friend, Carter, to take a look at what is happening in Iran and how the US is trying to unseat the first democratically elected leader (who has communist leanings) and put the Shah back in power. The US government has decided this is the best possible outcome to keep the oil flowing and the money in friendly hands. Don’t shoot the messenger. This is how it went down. The history is fascinating. Nick signs on, but not without hesitation.

Carter invites Nick and Bet to spend a weekend in the wilderness of Vermont. They spend it at Last House. The obvious reason is that the last man to own it and the land was John Last. The metaphors are numerous. The last place you will ever want to live? The last place you will live when WWIII begins? A place to seek solace and revive your spirit when life has turned you upside down and you don’t think you can last? Nick and Bet buy the home from Carter, renovate it and it becomes all of those things.

Nick and Bet have two children Katherine (Kat) and Harry. Kind words are infrequent for Katherine because her parents fell back on old norms of raising children. Nick’s father was a terrifying man and Katherine’s parents had made a very good life for themselves in this country, only to be shunned because they were Catholics from Cork County. Katherine is opinionated, but she is smart. Harry is lost. Love alone cannot help this young man. Katherine strikes out on her own and her path takes us through the Vietnam War, Dr. Martin Luther King’s murder, student sit ins, the Black Panthers and the rioting at home. This is tragically fascinating and Kat is involved everywhere. At one point Harry joins her, desperate to find his own path, desperate to be lost and left alone.

The book is well researched and introduced me to so much of my own country’s history that I was unaware of or had forgotten. She takes a large time span and puts a moving story into it. Yes, she speeds it up towards the end, but by then our main characters have passed or have started families of their own and the next generations don’t have the same stories to tell yet. I hated the ending and that earned the book a four stars. It’s weak and almost insulting.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy. I liked the premise of the book but it was not fast enough paced to keep me invested in the story. The book itself covered a lot of history which was interesting but not enough that kept me engaged. I appreciate the chance to read it but just was not for me.

Last House is an ambitious family novel that is about generations, their choices, and social changes. Watching Nick and Bet grow from young adults in the ebbing days of WWII into grandparents of the Gen X generation is familiar , and reading about their lives with the knowledge of history makes their decisions all the more interesting. As the book progresses, we spend less time with Nick and Bet and more with Katherine and Harry, their children, as they struggle to find themselves in the Vietnam era and the summer of love. And through it all, Last House is there.

A well-written book that tries hard to be An Important Book. Jessica Shattuck brings generational issues to the forefront and lets the readers determine whether the characters made the decision we would have. The end ties up a lot of loose ends but also leaves a few--because that's how life is. A solid book that left me thinking a lot about my grandparents' and parents' generations, their choices, and how it affects us today.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The story gets slightly convoluted for me at certain parts, but I'm unsure if that's a fault of the book or my own headspace. I love historical fiction and fiction focusing on families, so for the most part I found this book pretty enjoyable. There were parts that dragged maybe a bit too much, but overall I would recommend it to any of my friends that like a leisurely historical / multigenerational read. I didn't connect to the characters in the way I think the author wanted me to, but again.. unsure if it's a personal issue or a fault of the book. Not a revolutionary title but I learned something.

An interesting historic novel which I found to be a fascinating read although occasionally I got a bit bored.
If you like family sagas with lots of interesting members and characters, you will enjoy ‘Last House’.

Last House is a historical fiction following Nick Taylor, his wife, and their children. For this type of book, the pacing was a bit slow but I really enjoyed the post-WWII viewpoints all the way into the 2020's. It was very interesting to see how values can be passed down generations or changed completely. I would have loved this book more if there was more character development and less historical information. Overall, it was very well done!

I loved The Women in the Castle by this same author so I was really looking forward to reading this new novel. I read it late at night and in short sittings over a couple of weeks. The story tells about a family across a couple of generations. I found it difficult to follow the threads of each generation, not quite sure who was narrating and what time period we were in. I didn’t know very much about the history of the oil industry and politics related to it in Iran. When I completed this novel, ironically, the next two books I read were also stories about oil and politics in Iran. Between all three, I have been given an education. Now I want to reread this novel giving it more time. I love the way Shattuck writes and feel my misunderstandings are my fault and not hers. I would recommend this novel to lovers of historical fiction and family sagas.

I don't read (actually read, as opposed to listen to) many books, but this was a rare exception. This was so, so good. It's hard for me to articulate why, except that the character development was excellent, the engagement with social issues worked, and the plot made sense.

Review copy provided by publisher.

“Last House” is a multi-generational historical novel. Jessica Shattuck with Nick and Bet Taylor - a generally lovely couple who are doing their best - and slowly folds in their children, Katherine and Harry. They each have their own struggles. Nick’s oil industry career takes him to the Middle East, where he tangled with government leaders who make choices he isn’t sure are the right ones. Bet is both bored and worried. Katherine protests oil and the Vietnam War but isn’t totally sure why. Harry is floundering. It’s all very high stakes, and Shattuck weaves their narratives together masterfully.

What I liked: I’m not always sold on family sagas or sweeping historical epics, but Last House really does it well. I was deeply invested in all of the major and most of the minor characters. Also, Shattuck centers environmentalism, foreign affairs, and generational clashes, which makes for a thought-provoking medley. Plus, the writing is exquisite.

What I didn’t love: the retrospective nature of some of the writing feels harsher on the characters (particularly Katherine) than necessary and I found the judgemental tone distracting.

I highly recommend “Last House” for anyone interested in a contemplative family drama and fans of well-written literary fiction. This is an excellent book.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the e-ARC!

This was good, but the pacing is pretty slow and it is more character driven than plot driven. Just as you're getting to know the characters, it switches to a different pov, so I didn't feel much of a connection to the characters. The writing was pretty and I enjoyed the novel overall, but its just not one that will stick with me.

Thank you to @netgalley and @WilliamMorrow for this ARC. 1953, Nick Taylor just back from WW2 is practicing law is drawn into the Iran oil crisis to help with negotiations and put someone else in charge. Nick is then able to purchase "Last House" from a colleague. "Last House" is in a valley, far from everything and fully sustainable in case of a crisis in the US. Flash forward to 1968, Nick's son and daughter have their own issues with the oil barons and trying to figure out what they can do about it. Last House becomes not on a refuge but also a place for ideas. This book was pretty good. The story line was easy to follow and beautifully written but I am not much for politics. #LastHouse #JessicaShattuck #WilliamMorrow #May2024

This is a very complicated, layered novel. Framed within the context of one family, it portrays a country divided by its values and how significant an old Vermont house set away from all the tumult can symbolize a place of healing.

In this instance, we are witness to the difficult transition from the Greatest Generation who were shaped by World War II to the Boomers of the sixties to the fallout experienced by the generations that follow. Told from multiple perspective and points of view the reader is caught in the middle of the generational divide.

Bet and Nicholas came of age in the 1940s. Bet was the daughter of Irish immigrants who successfully realized the American dream; Nick was raised in poverty by a stern midwestern preacher. Nick fought in the Pacific during WWll, an experience that transformed him. He and Bet met in college. She was briefly a code breaker before they married and lived the traditional life of the times—breadwinner and housewife and mother.

Nick’s profession as an international lawyer for an oil company brought him to the middle east—Iran, Iraq, etc, —as our government interfered in global politics to keepithe Shah in power. These scene for me were the most interesting in the book.

Oil and what it represented broke the family down. Katherine, their daughter, and true child of the sixties, worked as a leftist journalist to shine light on what the government was involved in. She could not abide her father’s work or beliefs. Their son, Harry, drifted until her didn’t and surprised everyone with an action.

Over the course of the book, the reader is taken on a trip through the past. We see first hand American action in the Mideast for the sake of procuring oil. We are thrust into the sixties with the sit-ins and demonstrations, the Black Panthers, the underground, the confrontation between police and demonstrators.

And in the middle of all this, there is a house. Last House of the book’s title which Bet and Nick purchase as an oasis away from the world, a place to go if they needed a place at the end of the world, one that takes on different meanings for the children and grandchildren.

My favorite parts of the story were those centered around Nick and Bet. To me, they were the most fleshed out, flawed, yet well intentioned. Katharine’s storyline got a bit old for me. She was more one dimensional. Mostly anger, more anger and questionable judgment. I felt the same way about Harry. Wanted more of understanding of him. You be the judge of how he evolved!

Bravo to Jessica Shattuck. Long after I think about the characters, I will remember the history she gave us. Included in the book is a long list of all the things oil is used for. It doesn’t justify any of what happened but is something to think about.

I really liked The Women in the Castle, so was excited to read Last House. This is a very ambitious work of historic fiction spanning from WWII to the near future and focusing on several generations of one family. Nick Taylor, son of Mennonites from the mid-west, is a WWII veteran who has become a corporate attorney for the oil industry. Bet is a reluctant 50's housewife, raised in a newly affluent Irish-Catholic family in suburban NJ. They raise two children in Connecticut, who get swept up in the turbulence and change of the 60's. which ends in tragedy. And then there's their children and grandchildren. There's plenty to think about in the book including climate change, America's role in the world, racism, women's rights etc. Through it all, the family keeps a second home Last House in the Northeast kingdom as Vermont, a metaphor for where we've been and where we're going.

A book that is at once thought-provoking and a real page-turner, as we get totally caught up with the relatable characters from a family and spend a few decades with them. Lots of history here, as we follow them post World War Two and into the turbulent 1960s and beyond. I truly look forward to recommending this title, particularly to readers who enjoy historical fiction that is lively and accurate.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to listen to read this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.
The story of a family told from the 1953 until 2025. Nick recently returned from WW2 has a plumb job working as a lawyer for an oil company to help ensure Americas supply remains abundant despite the politics of the middle east. His source of comfort is his wife Bet and their two children 5 year old Katherine and 3 year old Harry and their upper middle class lifestyle. Bet a brilliant cryptographer during the war, traded it all for motherhood and suburbia, not because she wanted to, but because it was expected. Last house refers to a rustic cabin in the Vermont woods that the young family buys, and returns to each year.
Like most Boomer children, Harry and Katherine grow into hippies with a full sense of disillusionment of their patents lifestyle and the environmental damage done by it. The book spends a good period of time in this era, where critical events happen that are relevant to the arc of the story. For me, this part of the book dragged a bit.
I especially enjoyed that last section where decisions that were made and lives that were changed play out. We get to meet the decedents of Nick and Bet and see how the family traits are a though-line from generation to generation.
Satisfying Read

Last House is a family drama that will most likely be talked about a lot. The story of Bet, Nick and their children is enjoyable, although too narrative at times. The novel would have been more compelling as an entirely character driven story. as those were the most interesting parts of the book. Thanks to William Morrow for the opportunity to read the ARC.

I could not put this book down! Jessica Shattuck masterfully blends world history with family history in Last House. I can’t wait dive into Shattuck’s backlist!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC!

PS—fantastic cover art. I can’t wait to see this one on shelves this spring.