Speech Team by Tim Murphy

Speech Team by Tim Murphy

A tender-hearted novel and a dream to read. I loved this book. -- Matt Haig #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library

so so so so good... Speech Team] is a MUST...It has all the feels and brilliant writing to boot. -- Elin Hilderband (on Instagram) #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Five Star Weekend

A funny, gossipy and ultimately poignant novel about four Gen X teen friends turned 21st-century adults who awkwardly come back together to confront an influential teacher whose brutal remarks have haunted them all for years.

In his early forties, nonprofit writer Tip Murray is just getting past the wreckage of his youth and settling into semi-humdrum married New England domesticity. Things take an unusual turn when he receives shocking news from his high school best friend, hippie farmer Natalie, that one of their former teammates from speech team, Pete, has committed suicide. Surprisingly mentioned in Pete's final Facebook post? A devastating comment made to him by their speech team coach, Gary Gold.

Feeling nostalgic for their 80s adolescence, Tip and Nat decide to reconnect with two long lost friends from the team, haughty menswear designer Anthony and tightly wound college professor Jennifer. The reunited quartet quickly discover an unsettling thread: all were quietly wounded by Mr. Gold's deeply cutting remarks. The silver lining? Gold is still alive, and a quick Google search shows that he has retired to Florida. There's only one thing left to do: fly down to a posh resort to confront him. What happens next is far from what any of them could have imagined.

Fueled by cringe-y confrontations and 80s nostalgia, a literary mashup of The Breakfast Club and The Big Chill, Speech Team explores what it means to take account of the pain that can suffuse a life and what it means, years on, to move forward.

Tim Murphy is a genius at sweeping, character-driven stories that suck you in until the very last page, and Speach Team is no exception. --Andy Cohen

Tim Murphy is a Religion Studies Associate Professor at the University of Alabama. He is the author of Nietzsche, Metaphor, Religion, as well as Representation Religion: Studies in History, Theory, and Crisis, both published by SUNY Press.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780593653845
ISBN 10	059365384X
Title	Speech Team
Author	Tim Murphy
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2023-07-25
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.