{"product_id":"ways-and-means-9781419768200","title":"Ways and Means","description":"\u003cb\u003e** LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION 2024 FIRST NOVEL PRIZE ** \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA searing debut novel about a striving finance student, the line between ambition and greed, and the disordered politics of our era\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"[An] auspicious debut . . . a wildly entertaining drama of ambition and consequence.\" \u003cb\u003e--Sam Sacks, \u003ci\u003eWALL STREET JOURNAL\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"An absolute riot...Thrilling...Lefferts's wry examination of the societal and economic shifts that led to the once unthinkable hits incredibly close to home.\" \u003cb\u003e--Chris Murphy, \u003ci\u003eVANITY FAIR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"[A] sexy political thriller.\" \u003cb\u003e--Charles Arrowsmith, \u003ci\u003eWASHINGTON POST \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Alistair McCabe comes to New York with a plan. Young, handsome, intelligent, and gay, he hopes to escape his Rust Belt poverty and give his mother a better life by pursuing a career in high finance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e But by the spring of 2016, Alistair's plan has come undone: His fantasy banking job has eluded him, he's mired in student debt, and in his desperation he's gone to work for an enigmatic billionaire whose ambitions turn out to be far darker than Alistair could have imagined. By the time Alistair uncovers his employer's secret, his life is in danger and he's forced to go on the run. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Meanwhile, Alistair's paramours, an older couple named Mark and Elijah, must face their own moral and financial dilemmas. Mark, nearing the end of his trust fund, takes a job with his father's mobile-home empire that forces him to confront the unsavory foundations of his family's wealth, while Elijah, a failed painter, throws in his lot with an artist-provocateur whose latest project transforms the country's political chaos into a thing of alluring, amoral beauty. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e As the nation hurtles toward a breaking point, Alistair, Mark, and Elijah must band together to save one another and themselves. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Propulsive, exuberant, and profoundly observed, \u003ci\u003eWays and Means\u003c\/i\u003e is an indelible, clear-eyed investigation of class and ambition, sex and art, and politics and power in twenty-first century America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDaniel Lefferts\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003ewas born in upstate New York and now lives in Hudson, New York. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and has taught writing at Columbia and Rutgers. \u003ci\u003eWays and Means\u003c\/i\u003e is his first novel.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Abrams Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51552806404370,"sku":"9781419768200","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f2750362-660a-4863-ae42-a146ed7606d7.jpg?v=1754905054","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/ways-and-means-9781419768200","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}