"Tarkington's writing ... calls to mind a young Pat Conroy." 'Garden & Gun When Charlie Boykin was young, he'd thought his life with his single mother was really just fine. But when his mother's connections get Charlie into boarding school and give them access to the upper echelons of Nashville society, Charlie falls under the spell of all that a life among the wealthy can mean. Increasingly attached to another boy, Arch Creigh, Charlie learns how morality has little to do with life in Belle Meade. On into college and after, Charlie aids Arch in his pursuit of a Senate seat, only to be pulled into a growing web of deceit. The novel examines the questions: Why do the poor love the rich' Why do we envy and worship a class of people that so often exhibits the worst excesses and the lowest morals' For fans of Ann Patchett's Commonwealth and Kevin Wilson's Nothing to See Here, The Fortunate Ones is an engrossing story of class, love, and loyalty.