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The Amateur

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What to expect

1978. In the sleepy New York suburb of Tallmadge, eighteen-year-old Mira Winston is beguiling, talented, and full of youthful recklessness. She spends her summer perfecting her swing at her parents’ country club – and continuing her long-running affair with her father’s golf buddy, a married man twice her age.

Then, one August afternoon, a freak accident occurs, and Mira’s classmate Kenny is killed. In the days and years that follow, the events of that day become inextricably tied to the choices she has made – with devastating, unpredictable consequences for her family, her neighbours and friends, and Mira herself.

She is forced to ask: what happens when one small moment – the swing of a golf club, a stolen kiss, a hastily written note – changes the course of an entire life?

Mesmerizing and darkly funny, The Amateur unravels against a backdrop of white-picket-fenced streets, university dorm rooms, smoke-filled restaurants, and elegant country clubs. Turning a sharp eye to the American middle class, it is a hypnotic tale of power, morality, and the weight of blame.

'Sharply funny, beautifully told and so moving on the way life can upend itself in a single moment. I adored it’ CLARE LESLIE HALL, author of BROKEN COUNTRY

'Impossible to put down' GILLIAN McALLISTER, author of WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME

© Chris Bohjalian 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

THE AMATEUR is a joyous novel with an unforgettable narrator who will break your heart. It is sharply funny, beautifully told and so moving on the way life can upend itself in a single moment. I adored it
CLARE LESLIE HALL, author of BROKEN COUNTRY
Impossible to put down
GILLIAN McALLISTER
Dazzles as it devastates . . . turns over weighty subjects - sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress, familial dysfunction - with grace and wry humour. It’s a masterpiece
Publishers Weekly
It’s hard to think of any reason not to call this a perfect novel . . . Nabokov’s classic reinvented as a 1970s moral fable, with brilliantly developed characters and period detail.
Kirkus
Bohjalian demonstrates timely and empathic socially conscious bravery as he confronts the inherent imbalance of power in such situations and illuminates the devastating impact of such exploitation
Booklist
Effortless, emotional, gripping, and the most propulsive novel I've read in ages
Stylist
Author Chris Bohjalian
Narrator Melora Hardin
Duration 9 hours and 58 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781804965344
Format Audiobook
Publisher Cornerstone
Genre Historical fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Coming of age, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Social classes
Availability AU, GB, IE

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