Ten years on from Brightness Falls, Russell Calloway is still a literary editor; his wife Corrine has sacrificed her career to watch anxiously over their children. Across town Luke McGavock, a wealthy ex-investment banker, is taking a sabbatical from moneymaking, struggling to reconnect with his socially resplendent wife Sasha and their angst-ridden teenage daughter, Ashley. These two Manhattan families are teetering on the brink of change when 9/11 happens.

Through the lens of catastrophe, The Good Life explores that territory between hope and despair, love and loss, regret and fulfilment. This is Jay McInerney doing what he does best, presenting us with life in New York City, in all its moral complexity.