Much of this novel was inspired by my own confl icted relationship with wealth and my status as a person of limited means working in a school that would not exist but for the support of those whose means seem unlimited. I have taught the sons of billionaires, of senators and congressmen and governors and mayors. Some of them are among the most decent, humble, and hardworking kids I’ve ever known. I’ve also taught even more remarkable boys who grew up in public housing and attended the school on fi nancial aid. I’ve seen those boys embraced by the fortunate ones. I’ve watched them wrestle with the conflict between their gratitude to have been afforded access to opportunity and their understandable insecurity when they first step into a house with an entry hall big enough to swallow their own homes three times over. I’ve seen some slip seamlessly into that world, and others grow resentful. I’ve also seen (as so many of us have) how privilege does not always provide happiness, and how unchecked entitlement can sometimes result in corruption and tragedy. Over and over again, I’ve seen how we are all products of our circumstances, and that we can so often start out with the best intentions and end up very far from where we thought we were headed.

Now more than ever, the world outside of novels is cast in stark shades, free of nuance. People have become so accustomed to one-dimensional portraits of those with whom they differ or who come from a place unrecognizable to them that we seem to have given up on even trying to understand one another. This is why stories matter. A novel is a mirror we hold up to see ourselves more clearly, to understand the complexity of human character. With The Fortunate Ones, I wanted to write a book that shows both sides of our fractured country in three dimensions, so that we can more completely see both ourselves and those whose lives seem vastly different.

But most of all, I wanted to tell a good story. Faulkner once said that “there is nothing worth writing about but love, money, and death.” I took those words seriously when I wrote The Fortunate Ones. I hope you enjoy it; my heart is on every page.

Questions for Discussion

1. How does the prologue of The Fortunate Ones establish Charlie’s character? What is the effect of having Charlie learn the news of Arch’s suicide while delivering notice of a soldier’s death to his parents?

2. Discuss the parallels between Bonnie and Vanessa, particularly in regard to the choices they made when they became pregnant as teenagers.

3. Charlie, Arch, and Terrence all grow up without fathers. What might we infer about the absence of fathers in terms of these characters’ personalities and motivations?