Fulfillment
A Novel
by Lee Cole
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Pub Date Jun 17 2025 | Archive Date Jul 17 2025
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Description
Fulfillment tells the story of two half brothers—Joel, a successful academic and author, whose marriage is in deep trouble, and his younger sibling Emmett, paralyzed by indecision and working on a factory assembly line—who find themselves at their family home in Kentucky and upend each other’s lives in devasting ways.
Between them is Alice, Joel's wife, a wry, passionate young woman who is being slowly asphyxiated by domestic tedium, and whose longing collides with Emmett’s hunger for connection and desire to escape a sense of burgeoning failure and shame. As the chemistry between them escalates, the family is plunged into a violent crucible, each character brought to a precipice of immutable catastrophe.
Incisive, poignant, gorgeously written, Lee Cole has written a haunting novel about class, privilege, brotherhood, and the American South, a book that asks whether people can change, and at what cost, and what it takes to build a life of fulfillment and meaning.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780593802861 |
| PRICE | $29.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 336 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
David R, Reviewer
The second book by this new author. I loved his first book, Groundskeeping, which tells the story of a writer from rural Kentucky, torn between his nostalgic childhood and his new understanding of the world.
Fulfillment rips off the bandaid. There is no nostalgia about life in rural Kentucky. Emmitt works in a mundane job and dreams of being a writer of screenplays, but confronts reality at every step. His brother Joel has escaped and lives a meaningless life as a small time writer and philosophy professor in NYC. Both are miserable and make decisions that make life worse.
The book is mostly depressing, but is well written and thought provoking. I am looking forward to the third book.
Andrea D, Reviewer
Near Paducah, Kentucky, in a vast distribution center for a global shipping giant, Emmett spends his days unloading boxes on an assembly line. He has returned home—again—after yet another six-month cycle of hope and failure, another job and dream that didn’t work out. This time, he starts off back with his mother in his childhood home, forced to confront not only his own disappointments but the presence of his brother, Joel, the golden child.
Joel, a successful author, views the world through the lens of leftist ideology and intellectual abstraction, retreating into research and philosophy as his personal life crumbles. His wife wonders if she can endure a man who seems more invested in his ideals than in their marriage.
Cole’s writing is stunning, sharp, and deeply observant, capturing the tensions between success and failure, ambition and stagnation, privilege and self-awareness. The characters, frustrating yet compelling, fumble for meaning with answers sitting right in front of them. They are cushioned by safety nets they barely acknowledge, making their struggles feel both tragic and maddening.
This novel isn’t easy—it doesn’t give you characters to love, only to understand. But it is an undeniable achievement in storytelling, and I was completely taken in. The ending? Absolutely perfect.
#KnopfPantheonVintage #Fulfillment #LeeCole
Kelly P, Reviewer
This book's topic is much heavier than the romance stories I've been enjoying recently. However, it is a stunning work by a very talented author. The characters and plot aren't something you will fall in love with, but it will keep your interest. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
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