The Tourists A Novel

Our unnamed narrator, a journalist, picks up the story of his three former classmates from Yale as they're all nearing thirty. David and Samona have been together since junior year, and have now settled into the routine of being married. Ethan--whose talent and ease at life has never been enough to sustain him, who is looking for something darker and more uncertain--first captivated our narrator during college when they struck up a special relationship. As our narrator and Ethan became closer, our narrator's love for the beautiful, exotic Samona never waned. Who's happy? Not Ethan, with his success as a designer and his magnetic sexuality. Not David, who wonders whether a better life lies ahead in the suburbs or behind on the track field. Not Samona, to whom David returns home nightly from his hedge fund job with nothing left for her. When Ethan and Samona come together during a gallery opening, they meet each others needs. Only later, after David commissions Ethan to design some conference rooms at his firm and a secret triangle is formed, does our narrator tie all the pieces together.

Jeff Hobbs graduated with a BA in English language and literature from Yale in 2002, where he was awarded the Willets and Meeker prizes for his writing. He is the author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace and The Tourists. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.