This story begins in 1953, and proceeds to cover the years that follow in the 1960’s, 1970’s and the changes as the years go by as each generation’s hopes and desires evolve, and as the country, and the world, as well, experience changes. Some good, some not, depending on the generation and location, and event.

Early on, this centers around a family, a family who have recently come into money, and how that changes their lives. They buy an old home while on their vacation, and this becomes their refuge from the world and the realities of things happening outside this place.

This covers a lot in terms of eras, from the 1940’s to the 2020’s, and includes pretty much every noteworthy change in the world, from politics to wars and how these changes have reshaped this country, as well as others.

There were moments in this story that I enjoyed, but overall, while it was interesting to revisit those times, my favourite part of this story was at the beginning, and the more that I read it, the less it pulled me in. Not that it was difficult to understand or that I disliked the story, overall, but I felt that it needed more balance.


Pub Date: 14 May 2024

Many thanks for the ARC provided by William Morrow

This ambitious and beautifully written novel takes on a large chunk of history. Jessica Shattuck begins Last House in the 1940's with Bet, an English Major who becomes a code breaker. It is Bet's story and that of her husband, Nick, and their children and, subsequently, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Although Bet's is the main thread of the story's beginning, there is a long section of Bet's daughter Katherine's life and her connection to her brother Harry. Nick, an attorney for a major oil company, becomes involved with the CIA in Iran's politics and returning the Shah to the throne. Carter, a CIA operative, becomes close friends with Nick and Bet and is responsible for their purchase of Last House in Vermont (Last being the name of its original owner). The property becomes a kind of survivalist community.

Catherine's life unfolds as she becomes a columnist for a left-wing newspaper and there meets a group of peaceful protestors and later Weather Underground members. We follow her through King's assassination and protests against the Viet Nam w ar and big oil companies.
Racism, even after the; passage of the Voting Rights Act, is part of Katheriine's life as she falls in love with a Black man.

The travel through 20th Century history culminates in a return to Last House to celebrate Katherine's 79th birthday with a reunion party while there is a massive blackout across the country. Thís novel has some lovely characters and descriptions like the Shah's lavish party.
But ultimately, the novel may leave readers behind as it rushes to its conclusion. It could have earned 5 Stars had it been more character driven and less of a history lesson.

Thank to Netgalley and William Morrow for an ARC copy to read pre-publication.

A strong story about The Last House, an escape from the world's pressures. A story set in a time of uprising against big corporation, and environmental exploitation, and for peoples rights. One generation was benefitting from these and the next was fighting against them. Nick and Bet made their living off of International Oil dreaming of stability and a better future for their children Kat and Harry who were raised with the privilege to question everything. Then turbulent times crashed into the Taylor family and caused them all to doubt their beliefs and understand the importance of family.
The story moved a bit slow at first but picked up about midway. I liked the characters but wasn't invested in them. The setting could have played a larger role. A good book overall but I felt it skimmed along too quickly at times, making me wish for more.

Thank you to Publisher William Morrow and NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy.

Little argument, I would think even from the staunchest America booster, that the U.S. hasn’t exactly shown itself to fine advantage in its foreign involvements of the last century, with a particularly egregious instance being Iran, whose repressiveness of recent years – to my mind the scariest part of the recent bump-in-the night Iranian thriller “Under The Shadow” – could be seen as an inexorable outcome of the U.S.-assisted ouster of democratically elected Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and reinstallation of the shah.
“Getting the (oil) pumps going again,” is the rationale given for the deposing by U.S. operative Carter Weston in Jessica Shattuck's “Last House,” and indeed the novel begins with Weston attempting to bring on board to the oil venture one of the novel’s major characters, Nick Taylor, who isn’t wildly enthusiastic about the endeavor, particularly as he takes in from the air the unsavory evidence of the effort. “Like a burned-out forest, the pipes and columns and laddered derricks like a wilderness of bare trunks and fallen trees,” he thinks of the venture that Carter is presenting figuratively as the “turning point” for “freedom and oppression” and "the battle over the future of civilization, no less.”
Enough almost to make Nick laugh, the sentiment, after what he endured in the literal WWII fighting that left him with shrapnel in one of his shoulders and enough of an aversion to war to have made him want to use his law degree for world harmony and to have proposed by mail from the Pacific to his wife-to-be, Bet.
My favorite character by far in the novel, Bet is a maverick among her circle, with her ambition to do a Ph.D. in literature and her expressed sympathy for the Rosenbergs, or their children, anyway, which put me in mind of Jillian Cantor’s “The Hours Count” as well as Ellen Feldman’s “The Unwitting,” which may not have expressly referred to the Rosenbergs, I don’t recall, but remains for me overall the best depiction of the Cold War that I’ve read.
More than just a revisiting of the Cold War, though, Shattuck’s novel is something of an overall look at postwar America, with an extended treatment of Vietnam, which will ensnare daughter Katherine and son Harry, who for all the central role he will end up playing was to my mind insufficiently developed. Indeed, a fuller treatment, almost as though it’s a character itself, is accorded the house that the family comes to acquire (hence the title), even if, there too, I found the conceit not entirely successful. Nevertheless, the novel’s writing is top-drawer – “Nick felt the daily flesh and blood of marriage turn to gristle” is a particularly fine example – and its imperialist concerns, reminiscent for me of Joan Didion, are particularly germane at a time of the grave moral complexities posed by the current situations in Gaza and Ukraine.

This is an intellectual book and not plot driven. Maybe the point went above my head, but I just couldn't connect with this one. I'm surprised I even finished it. I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved parts of this book. The family drama is captivating. The oil industry is fascinating. The historical events are interesting (if often full of rage). But a great deal of the book is too slow for my taste, lots of passages with characters musing on life and society.

And I think the book covers too much time. It goes from historical fiction, starting in the 1940s, to contemporary fiction in the 2020s (complete with today’s societal issues that I usually try to escape from by reading a novel!).

Still, Shattuck is a skilled writer. Even though the book was a miss for me, it will no doubt be a favorite for another reader.

I appreciate the chance to read an ARC of Last House. Thank you, NetGalley and William Morrow.

This family epic reminded me of The Most Fun We Ever Had or maybe Hello Beautiful, in structure and form. The subject matter around counterculture and the Vietnam conflict felt fresh and like less trod ground.

This lovely book brings us into the intimate family circle of Nick, Bet, their children Katherine and Harry, and eventually their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Multi-generational family epics are one of my favorite types of books. This one was extra fun because it felt very close to home (for a historical novel). I could really see my grandmother in Bet and my mother in Katherine, as the book began in 1953 (the year my mother was born). I loved getting the perspectives of these two women as they negotiated careers, beliefs, their family relationships (and to a lesser extent, romantic relationships -- that really didn't feel like the focus to me). Last House is a book about civil unrest and how domestic and international affairs affect families and loved ones -- but it's also about finding oneself. Definitely recommend for fans of Maggie Shipstead and Ann Patchett!

This book is truly exquisite. It is both poetic and simple, with beautifully crafted prose. Spanning across decades, it delves into the intricacies of a family drama, creating an incredibly intimate experience for the reader. It portrays a multifaceted love story, encompassing romantic, platonic, and familial love from various perspectives throughout a person's life. The book eloquently explores the idea that love is not a one-time occurrence, but a series of choices made in the moments that shape our lives, delving into the complexities of our relationships.

As I delved into the story, I felt as though I had become a part of the family. Each character's voice was so distinct that it felt like I was listening to an audiobook with multiple narrators, a testament to Jessica Shattuck’s powerful writing.

The book also weaves in strong eco/environmental themes through the internal thoughts of each character. What stood out to me was the refreshing, beautiful, and insightful way in which each character, like real people, had their own unique perspective on the same issues or topics, shaped by their individual life experiences and the influence of their generation on the era, and vice versa.

The writing is so captivating that I found myself highlighting numerous sentences throughout the book. It truly is a work of beauty.

Intricately written family saga, beginning with the two main characters during WWII and taking us through the 60s and turbulent 70’s with protestation after protestation, the Viet Nam war, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and then ultimately ending in current times, spanning 80 years. The book was well researched and so very interesting. History does repeat itself. And will continue to do so, as my take-away. Thank you NetGallery and HarperCollins Publishers for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. #LastHouse, #HarperCollinsPunlishers.

Last House is a novel that spans decades and generations, which, in the hands of a writer far less deft than Jessica Shattuck could have been trite.

This book, though, is not at all trite: it is a timely meditation on Big Oil and its exploitation, not only of the natural resource, but of the characters directly involved in the story as well as the effects of such exploitation on the global society.

We meet Nick and his wife Bet in 1953. He’s a lawyer from an oil company and she’s the stay at home mom of two young, delightful children - Katherine and Harry. Underneath this apparent lovely small-town life, though, is an undercurrent of secrecy and cloak and dagger manipulation of Middle Eastern oil production by the CIA, into which Nick is subtly drawn. Everything in the story revolves around this central deception. The children rebel as they grow up, with consequences one might never imagine. That’s all I want to say here. It’s a complex story that drew me in from the beginning and didn’t let me go until the end.

The writing is excellent. I do think the ending is somewhat forced and the story would have been even more powerful had it ended before the generations who came after Katherine, which subtracts one star for me. Nevertheless, it’s a great story of family dynamics, including those of “The Family”, that I will not soon stop thinking about.

I requested to read “Last House” by Jessica Shattuck because I am always looking for good historical fiction to enjoy. Here, the focus is on multiple generations of one family (and one house) told in a variety of voices.

The story opens in the early 1950’s where the reader is introduced to the Taylors. While the family lives in Connecticut, they own a summer house in Vermont where the Taylors appreciate the solitude of the mountains. Yet, the world is changing around them and those changes affect this family in many ways. The story jumps to the late sixties and forward, noting several significant historical events through different characters’ perspective.

I thought this story was well-executed without trying to make a statement, political or otherwise. I enjoyed the characters as told through Shattuck’s evocative writing. While the novel had slower moments, I was sad when this story came to an end.

Thanks to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for sharing this great read.

Jessica Shattuck's "Last House" is a moving account of generational differences, family legacies, and the hold homes have on us. Although the book mostly takes place in the past, it feels very timely in this polarizing era. It is a book that made me think about my own interactions with friends and family and how my advocacy work can evolve. I would read everything written by Shattuck!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC; all opinions are my own.

I finished this book last night. It was well written and kept me involved so that I wanted to keep reading. However, I was sad to see the disintegration of the main family due to the anti-war and racial protests of the 1960's. Later generations of the family did come together in the end, which was good. I'm just not sure how I feel about it. I have read other books by this author and would certainly continue to read others as well.

“Last House” is a family saga and epic story that covers fifty plus years of American History. It follows the Taylor family, whose wealth and challenges are tied to the oil industry in the U.S. and in the Middle East. It addresses the impact of the choices we make; those impacts that we know about and those that are hidden until a later time. Last House is a place the family can go to escape everyday struggles and the world situation. The story unfolds through the perspective of different family members and shows how their beliefs and values influence one another and how this results in family challenges and disasters. The book deals with many interesting issues including race, women’s roles, the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, the Weather Underground and the U.S – Iranian relationship. It was an interesting, well-written story that will remain with you for a while. Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow Publishing for an ARC

The Last House is a multi-generational story of post-war middle class privilege and activism. Parents Bet and Nicholas exit the duty and uncertainty of WWII service to a life of suburban affluence. That life is built on oil company profits, and by extension, American political interference in Iran. Their children grow up among '60s radicals, including the Weather Underground, which brings them into violent conflict with their parents' choices. In the end, everyone is (mostly) forced to evaluate how their own actions have done harm or steered events off course.
The sections focused on Bet and Nick are the strongest; they highlight some of the more compelling complexities of their generation. Katherine's section, told in the first person, seems somehow less nuanced; she has very little compassion for her younger radical self and a fair amount of dismissiveness for the period generally. The epilogue ties everything up in a neat bow; possibly a little too neatly, but it gives some satisfying closure. A more thematically consistent ending, though, might have left readers a little more on edge, given the state of the world these days.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC!

I first fell in love with Jessica Shattuck’s writing in The Women in the Castle. I think she’s upped her game with this sweeping family drama, The Last House. The line-by-line writing is spectacular. I highlighted so many perfect sentences and passages.
Themes of family dynamics, American history, war, racism, economic progress, environmental issues, and maturing as an individual weave together a complicated story that sweeps from the aftereffects of WWII to the unease of the 1960s to a future full of equal amounts of fear and hope.

The focus is on the Taylor family. The father, Nick, is a WWII veteran who becomes a lawyer for an oil company. His wife, Bet, served as a codebreaker during the war, but now she’s a full-time housewife and stay-at-home mother of their two children, Katherine and Harry. Katherine is a stubborn child who they don’t quite have a handle on and Harry is a loveable, gentle boy who is easier to parent.

The reader gets to see the Taylor’s world through three points of view—Nick’s, Bet’s, and Katherine’s. I loved the fact each character was layered and complicated, a balance of positive and negative attributes. I found myself equally invested in each character’s story and emotional arc. I also enjoyed experiencing the variety of settings—from a small town in Connecticut to a vacation home in Vermont, to the desert of Iran.

The title comes from the name of a vacation home the Taylors purchase after Nick begins to experience monetary success at work. The “Last” House earns its name in a couple of ways and serves as the perfect backdrop for several generations who fear what their future might hold—if, indeed, there is a future.

Many thanks to William Morrow Publishing and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

I loved this and don't think I am quite capable of putting into words how much this book moved me. Brava, Jessica Shattuck! The writing style and the author's way of moving through the Taylor family, their history, and their points of view enlightened many points of American history. I highly recommend this book and will recommend it to my book club in May! Thank you to William Morrow Publishing and NetGalley for this eARC!

I really enjoyed The Women in The Castle by Jessica Shattuck so when I read the description of her newest book, I was anxious to read it. Last House is a sweeping family saga about Nick and Bet Taylor and their family that expands over almost eighty years.

Nick and Bet meet right before he is sent to war and marry when he returns. Bet wants to get an PhD but gives up her ambition to raise their two children, Katherine and Harry. Nick is an attorney working for Standard Oil in 1953 and now wealthy. He travels to Iran frequently for work so the couple buy a house in rural Vermont called Last House where they retreat with their children to escape the pressures of life and spend summers together. Family is everything to Nick but as the children grow older they begin to question their father’s work. Katherine takes a job as a writer for a radical newspaper and begins to join protests and the rebelliousness of1968. Harry is a gentle soul who loves nature and his family but soon he is caught up in the rebelliousness of the time, too, with tragic results.

This is a well written family saga with well defined characters and a strong sense of time and place. Last House will be published on May 14, 2024. Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing for an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reading this story was like being in a fever dream. I felt like I was there with the characters and got to actually watch their developments. The book was so interesting and atmospheric. I felt so connected to the characters. The writing of this story is also amazing and beautiful. Thank you William Morrow and Jessica Shattuck for sending me an ARC of this book.