CONTACT: Megan Wilson, megan.wilson@hmhpub.com
LAST OF THE OLD GUARD by Louis Auchincloss
“Auchincloss is our Trollope: a productive, elegant artist whose keen understanding of the small worlds his characters inhabit permits him to examine their surprising variety with an energy undiminished even this late (he is in his 90s) in his brilliant career. A small masterpiece from an old master whose oeuvre bulks large in our literature and will last.” — Kirkus Reviews
Louis Auchincloss, master portraitist of America’s ruling class, offers what many will consider the most humane, moving, and shrewd chapter in his evolving portrayal of New York, the great American city, and its most influential citizens and reigning families. In Last of the Old Guard, Auchincloss has drawn on his brief career as a wills and trusts attorney to elegantly interweave the lives of those “upstairs and downstairs”—including the Roosevelts and Astors—in a stratum of society accustomed to wielding power and control, while
exposing the temptation and vicissitudes of two remarkable men, Adrian Suydam and Ernest Saunders. As the end of his career focuses his mind on mortality, Adrian, one of the two founding partners of the esteemed white-shoe law firm of Suydam and Sanders, grapples with the complexities of a relationship central to both his personal and professional existence; his long, evolving relationship with Ernest, a brilliant, complicated man, more comfortable in the courtroom than with personal life. Adrian, a man with no interest in being endearing but with an uncanny capacity for sharp observation, proves to be a classic Auchincloss hero.
Touching, comical, and replete with fascinating social detail—a must for those who have admired Auchincloss—The Last of the Old Guard renders the conclusion of a poignant friendship that shaped two lives and offers readers an unforgettable depiction of Old New York.
Last of the Old Guard by Louis Auchincloss
Publication Date: December 1, 2008 * $24 hardcover * ISBN 978-0-547-15275-2
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LOUIS AUCHINCLOSS, an American institution, is the author of more than sixty books, and published his first novel, The Indifferent Children, in 1947. He has received the NAIBA Legacy Award for lifetime literary achievement and is the former president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2000, the New York Landmarks Conservancy honored him as a Living Landmark, and in 2005 he received the National Medal of Arts, our country’s highest recognition for artistic achievement. Auchincloss, a lifelong New Yorker, lives in Manhattan.
###
