At Last

For Patrick Melrose, “family” is more than a double-edged sword. As friends, relatives and foes trickle in to pay final respects to his mother, Eleanor–an heiress who gave up the grandeur of her upbringing for “good works,” freely bestowed on everyone but her own child–Patrick finds that his transition to orphanhood may not be the liberation he had so long imagined.Yet as the service ends and the family gathers for a final party, as conversations are overheard, danced around and concertedly avoided, amidst the social niceties and social horrors, the calms and the rapids, Patrick begins to sense a new current. At the end of the day, alone in his rooftop bedsit, it seems to promise some form of safety, at last.A powerful reflection on pain, acceptance, and the treacheries of family, At Last is the stunning culmination of the Melrose books, a work of glittering dark comedy and profound emotional truth.