A 2021 Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Book of the Year
“[A] really clever plot….and Arch works it like a maestro. Fine writing, memorable characters, depth of feeling, and gripping drama—a real keeper.”
—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED
At a boarding school in Pennsylvania, a deathbed request from the school’s dean brings three former students back to campus, where secrets and betrayals from the past are brought out into the open—secrets that could have a catastrophic effect on the dean’s eighteen-year-old son.
Told in alternating points of view and time frames, Attachments is the story of best friends Stewart (“Goody”) Goodman, Sandy (“Pick”) Piccolo, and Laura Appleby, the girl they both love. The friends meet in 1972 at a boarding school in coal-country Pennsylvania where they encounter Henry Griffin, the school dean, whose genuine fatherly interest and deep human bond with them is so strong that when he has a severe stroke almost twenty years later, he uses what could be his last words ever to call out their names.
Attachments is a puzzle—and the only one who knows how all the pieces fit is in a coma. In the process, longtime secrets are unearthed, revelations come out into the open, and Young Chip Griffin is about to learn something he may or may not be able to handle.
Genre: Literary Fiction
“[A] really clever plot….and Arch works it like a maestro. Fine writing, memorable characters, depth of feeling, and gripping drama—a real keeper.”
—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED
At a boarding school in Pennsylvania, a deathbed request from the school’s dean brings three former students back to campus, where secrets and betrayals from the past are brought out into the open—secrets that could have a catastrophic effect on the dean’s eighteen-year-old son.
Told in alternating points of view and time frames, Attachments is the story of best friends Stewart (“Goody”) Goodman, Sandy (“Pick”) Piccolo, and Laura Appleby, the girl they both love. The friends meet in 1972 at a boarding school in coal-country Pennsylvania where they encounter Henry Griffin, the school dean, whose genuine fatherly interest and deep human bond with them is so strong that when he has a severe stroke almost twenty years later, he uses what could be his last words ever to call out their names.
Attachments is a puzzle—and the only one who knows how all the pieces fit is in a coma. In the process, longtime secrets are unearthed, revelations come out into the open, and Young Chip Griffin is about to learn something he may or may not be able to handle.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"There are plenty of novels about childhood friends and lovers, brought together in adulthood, only to learn explosive secrets about the others and themselves. But Attachments transcends them all . . . Letting each character tell his or her own tale, Arch has created people, not mere plot holders, and you'll follow them eagerly as they move through love, loss, acceptance and forgiveness. There’s a deep humanity and compassion running throughout the story-you’ll care about his characters, flawed though they are, really care. I loved Attachments." - Jane Heller
"A deeply felt, intensely human story about love, loss, friendship, grief, and renewal, with people you’ll feel you’ve known all your life." - Gigi Levangie
"Attachments is a wise, emotionally astute, and deeply affecting novel about the bonds of love, loyalty and friendship that define us and test us throughout life. Jeff Arch's writing makes me want to slow down and linger. There is something for everyone in this story. I loved it." - Carol Mason
"I love it when I know from the fi rst page I’m in the hands of a master storyteller. From the opening moment, Jeff Arch’s well-plotted novel crackles with sharp dialogue, fully drawn characters, and a rich sense of time and place. I devoured Attachments." - Richard C Morais
"A deeply felt, intensely human story about love, loss, friendship, grief, and renewal, with people you’ll feel you’ve known all your life." - Gigi Levangie
"Attachments is a wise, emotionally astute, and deeply affecting novel about the bonds of love, loyalty and friendship that define us and test us throughout life. Jeff Arch's writing makes me want to slow down and linger. There is something for everyone in this story. I loved it." - Carol Mason
"I love it when I know from the fi rst page I’m in the hands of a master storyteller. From the opening moment, Jeff Arch’s well-plotted novel crackles with sharp dialogue, fully drawn characters, and a rich sense of time and place. I devoured Attachments." - Richard C Morais
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