The ever delightful and lovely, Matthew Quick, brings us his next novel, Love May Fail, about the beautiful and damaged Portia Kane. Portia has just left her cheating, pornography director husband and is desperate to connect with the one "good" man she has ever known, her high school English teacher, Mr. Vernon.
Portia remembers the Mr. Vernon of 20 years ago, inspiring and kind, a man who believed in his students and made them believe in themselves, if only for that short year. Unfortunately, life has not been kind to Mr. Vernon, and when Portia tracks him down in the middle of nowhere Vermont he is a broken man, a shadow of the man she has held in her memory. Can she rescue Mr. Vernon from himself and for her own well-being?
Told from the perspectives of several unique and well-defined characters, Portia learns many things – love, forgiveness, hope – while discovering that good can exist in people (plural).
Definitely worth the read (I especially liked the voice of Chuck Bass: former Mr. Vernon-inspired student, ex-heroin addict, present day Portia love interest). Get a galley now!
– Annie
PS: Fun fact: it has been optioned by Sony, so it will be a movie. In which case, I vote Jeffrey Dean Morgan play Chuck. If you read it, let me know who you envision!