The Last Enchantments
Lauded young mystery writer Finch captures the American perspective on aristocratic Oxford in this coming-of-age novel. William Baker leaves the political world of New York City behind, along with a well-connected girlfriend, Alison, to spend a year studying English literature at Fleet, a fictional Oxford college. He boards in a small cottage on campus with other graduate students, who introduce him to life as an English uni student. Tom Raleigh, William’s pedigreed Tory housemate, indoctrinates him into centuries-old traditions at Oxford, such as formal dinners and ritualized drinking games. Then he meets Sophie, a smart and proper Englishwoman, and begins to drift away from his well-heeled college sweetheart, Alison, and toward the romantic, literary life of Oxford. As in Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, Oxford sets a regal and stunning backdrop to The Last Enchantments, giving it a timeless and rich ambience that is, well, enchanting. --Heather Paulson