Town & Country

De: Brian Schaefer

Narrado por: Daniel K Isaac

A 2025 MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK: Town & Country • LGBTQReads • Kirkus Reviews

“Refreshingly thoughtful...Town & Country is never short of engaging.” —The Washington Post

A “big-hearted and true” (Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winner) debut novel set in a small rural town amid a congressional race that forces the candidates, their families, and a clique of gay second homeowners to confront lies, betrayals and shifting allegiances.

The trendy rural town of Griffin has become a popular destination for weekenders and the city’s second homeowners, but now a congressional race in this swing district is highlighting tensions between life-long residents and new arrivals. The campaign pits local pub owner and town supervisor Chip Riley against the wealthy young carpetbagger Paul Banks, challenging the social and political loyalties of their families and friends with lasting repercussions.

Diane Riley, Chip’s wife, is a religiously devout real estate agent who feels conflicted about selling second homes—including to Paul and his much older husband, Stan. Their elder son, Joe, is grieving the recent overdose death of his best friend and spiraling into drugs himself, while their younger son, Will, is a newly out college student seduced by the decadent lifestyle of Paul’s circle.

Meanwhile, Stan Banks uses the race to give purpose to the pain of losing a loved one to AIDS, even as he begins to doubt Paul’s readiness for office. And within their growing fraternity of city transplants, Eric Larimer finds unexpected connection with a local farmer that opens his eyes to the region’s complexity as Leon Rogers, still reeling from a divorce, becomes increasingly desperate to infiltrate the Banks’s exclusive crew.

Spanning six months from Memorial Day to Election Day, Town & Country paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of a community in flux. For readers of Fredrick Backman and Jen Beagin, this “powerful and extremely well-written book” (Colum McCann, National Book Award winner) asks the essential and timeless questions: What makes a home, and what do we owe our neighbors?

Wanted to like but couldn't get past narration

The narrator just didn't differentiate the characters enough and I kept getting lost. A little more inflection would have made this a more enjoyable listen. This title may be a better read than a listen, just wasn't able to get into it enough to finish.

Terrific and Emotionally Resonant Story!

I really enjoyed the book and found it quite moving. With a great deal of empathy and sly humour, the author illuminated the divide between town and country folk with characters on each side of the conflict put in complex situations that tested their mettle.

An election in a small town is a great arena to explore some of the challenges that we're presented with on a national level: gay and straight tensions, issues of rural drug abuse, hard-nosed politics and youthful striving for identity were beautifully captured. I think it would make a great movie!

The narrator was also quite good... once I speeded him up -- for me, 1.2 x speed was perfect!

Just keep reading!

BLUF: this is an amazing book.

I will admit, the first 3 chapters of this book were a struggle to get through. The authors voice is very smooth and easy going, but does not change for the multiple characters. I had to rewind at least 30 times in the first few hours of this read to understand what was going on. Some of the characters, although complex later on, have similar stories and attributes in the first few pages, making it hard to follow along when there is a quick character change. I even texted a friend who recommended this book to me to ask him why he recommended it. But… I could tell once I figured the characters out it would be fantastic. I think if I would have read the book instead of listened to it, I would have had a more enjoyable beginning to the book.

Finally- I asked AI to give me a 3 sentence run down on each main character without a spoilers, I screenshotted it, and referenced it while I listened.

After I got the characters down, I could not book this book down. Amazing story about a small town that is experiencing changes, a population boom, and people different from them are moving it. At one point I disliked every single person in the story (lol), but the characters are so dynamic and relatable.

After my initial struggle to get into the book- I could NOT put it down and found myself listening in the car, at the gym, and before bed endlessly until I finished.
I would highly recommend.

One dimensional

I was excited to read this, but unfortunately was disappointed. The characters all seemed superficial -- and where depth is sought it felt stereotypical.