The Stark Beauty of Last Things is set in Montauk, the far reaches of the famed Hamptons, an area under looming threat from a warming climate and overdevelopment. Now outsider Clancy, a thirty-six-year-old claims adjuster scarred by his orphan childhood, has inherited an unexpected legacy: the power to decide the fate of Montauk’s last parcel of undeveloped land.
Everyone in town has a stake in the outcome, among them Julienne, an environmentalist and painter fighting to save the landscape that inspires her art; Theresa, a bartender whose trailer park home is jeopardized by coastal erosion; and Molly and Billy, who are struggling to hold onto their property against pressure to sell. When a forest fire breaks out, Clancy comes under suspicion for arson, complicating his efforts to navigate competing agendas for the best uses of the land and to find the healing and home he has always longed for.
Told from multiple points of view, The Stark Beauty of Last Things explores our connection to nature—and what we stand to lose when that connection is severed.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Everyone in town has a stake in the outcome, among them Julienne, an environmentalist and painter fighting to save the landscape that inspires her art; Theresa, a bartender whose trailer park home is jeopardized by coastal erosion; and Molly and Billy, who are struggling to hold onto their property against pressure to sell. When a forest fire breaks out, Clancy comes under suspicion for arson, complicating his efforts to navigate competing agendas for the best uses of the land and to find the healing and home he has always longed for.
Told from multiple points of view, The Stark Beauty of Last Things explores our connection to nature—and what we stand to lose when that connection is severed.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this book. The characters, the twisty plot, the detailed descriptions, and the setting of Montauk, a place of great natural beauty, all drew me in completely. When I miss being by the ocean-all the time-I will from now on have The Stark Beauty of Last Things to turn to for passages that take me there. This is a rare and special book to keep on the bedside table." - Alice Elliott Dark
"Keating tells an intricately woven tale of the people of a small fishing town beset by land developers and reckoning with its future. Keating tells the story of multiple characters with great sympathy and insight, as they struggle not only with the town's future but with their own places in the world. A finely written, highly readable book that is vivid and real." - Edward J Delaney
"The Stark Beauty of Last Things brilliantly explores the symbiotic relationship between nature, the community, and characters driven to exploit or co-exist with each other and the environment. Keating writes about Montauk-the last spit of wild land on Long Island-with great depth of observation and feeling, delivering a cast of characters who spring from the page as vibrant and complex as anyone you might meet in the village itself. In the conflict between land developers and community environmentalists, the novel shows how nature itself-and a little luck-can become the deciding factor. This is a wise and often astonishing debut novel." - Robert Eversz
"With lush and sensory prose, this incandescent novel offers a glimpse into a wild place in turmoil. Residents of Keating's Montauk, both locals and outsiders, face seemingly impossible choices between financial survival and environmental stability of their fragile community. The natural world-its palate, its odors, the rhythms of sunset and daybreak, of storm destruction and delicate growth-is the scaffolding and the heart of this unforgettable story." - Ellen Meeropol
"Readers will be packing their bags for the Long Island shoreline in this atmospheric tale of love and healing. Keating's characters prove to be as formidable as the threats to their historic Montauk coastline." - Suzanne Simonetti
"Suspenseful and satisfying...with a keen sense of place, and compassion for the people who inhabit it." - Hilma Wolitzer
"Keating tells an intricately woven tale of the people of a small fishing town beset by land developers and reckoning with its future. Keating tells the story of multiple characters with great sympathy and insight, as they struggle not only with the town's future but with their own places in the world. A finely written, highly readable book that is vivid and real." - Edward J Delaney
"The Stark Beauty of Last Things brilliantly explores the symbiotic relationship between nature, the community, and characters driven to exploit or co-exist with each other and the environment. Keating writes about Montauk-the last spit of wild land on Long Island-with great depth of observation and feeling, delivering a cast of characters who spring from the page as vibrant and complex as anyone you might meet in the village itself. In the conflict between land developers and community environmentalists, the novel shows how nature itself-and a little luck-can become the deciding factor. This is a wise and often astonishing debut novel." - Robert Eversz
"With lush and sensory prose, this incandescent novel offers a glimpse into a wild place in turmoil. Residents of Keating's Montauk, both locals and outsiders, face seemingly impossible choices between financial survival and environmental stability of their fragile community. The natural world-its palate, its odors, the rhythms of sunset and daybreak, of storm destruction and delicate growth-is the scaffolding and the heart of this unforgettable story." - Ellen Meeropol
"Readers will be packing their bags for the Long Island shoreline in this atmospheric tale of love and healing. Keating's characters prove to be as formidable as the threats to their historic Montauk coastline." - Suzanne Simonetti
"Suspenseful and satisfying...with a keen sense of place, and compassion for the people who inhabit it." - Hilma Wolitzer
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