Many thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt and MacMillan Audio for gifting me an audio ARC in exchange for my honest review of the debut novel, My Last Innocent Year, by Daisy Alpert Florin and wonderfully narrated by Sarah Bierstock - 4 stars!
It's 1998 and Isabel is a senior at the prestigious Wilder College in New Hampshire. Isabel has never felt like she fit in with her peers - she doesn't come from wealth, she's Jewish, and her mother died shortly before Isabel started school. When a nonconsensual sexual encounter with one of the few Jewish boys in school creates fallout, Isabel is more confused than ever. When her charming and married English professor starts paying attention to her, they begin an affair.
This was a very well-written coming-of-age story, set in the time of the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal, bringing up the discussion of consensual/nonconsensual sexual encounters. The end of college and being forced to make adult decisions about the rest of your life is such a fragile time. Isabel was vulnerable to the attentions and promises from her professor, as well as not feeling she had a strong enough voice to override her own thoughts above those of her friends/lovers. I liked how we got to see Isabel's growth after school. A fine debut - looking forward to more from this author.
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