The Reserve: A Novel

Russell Banks

Oct 2009 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

“At once a harrowing mystery, an illuminating psychological novel of subverted love and family dysfunction, and a powerful commentary on class structure in America . . . [Banks is] one of America’s finest contemporary fiction writers.” —Boston Globe

Part love story, part murder mystery, set on the cusp of the Second World War, Russell Banks's sharp-witted and deeply engaging novel raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness—and explores what happens when two powerful personalities, trapped at opposite ends of a social divide, begin to break the rules.

Vanessa Cole is a stunningly beautiful and wild heiress. Twice-married, she has been scandalously linked to rich and famous men. On the night of July 4, 1936, inside her family’s remote Adirondack Mountain enclave known as the Reserve, Vanessa will lose her father to a heart attack—and meet Jordan Groves, a seductively carefree local artist. Jordan is easy prey for Vanessa’s electrifying charm. But when Vanessa becomes unhinged by her father’s unexpected death, she begins to spin out of control, manipulating and destroying the lives of all who cross her path.

Moving from the secluded beauty of the Adirondacks to war-torn Spain and fascist Germany, and filled with characters that pierce the heart, The Reserve is a clever, incisive, and passionately romantic novel of suspense and drama.

About the author

Russell Banks, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, was one of America’s most prestigious fiction writers, a past president of the International Parliament of Writers, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and he received numerous prizes and awards, including the Common Wealth Award for Literature. He died in January 2023 at the age of eighty-two.