Fine Young People
Anna Bruno
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
A smart, contemporary, page-turning campus novel--Prep meets I Have Some Questions for You--in which a high-school senior investigating the death of a star hockey player at her elite Jesuit school discovers the rot at the heart of the institution, as well as some surprising truths about her own past. Frankie is a good daughter, a loyal best friend, and a model student, coasting through her final semester at an elite Catholic prep school in a wealthy Pittsburgh enclave. But acceptance to her dream college leaves her unmoored. When a classmate takes his life after posting a cryptic message about Woolf Whiting, a former student who died in a presumed suicide years earlier, she begins to question whether getting what she wants will ever be enough. As the community mourns, a muffled conversation between Frankie's mom, who teaches history at the school, and the priest who teaches her philosophy class, captures her imagination. Soon, Frankie is drawn into an investigation of the life and death of Woolf, who had been a legendary star hockey player with the brightest of futures. Frankie speaks to Woolf's sister, Maddie, now a high-powered lawyer in New York; his former girlfriend, Susanna Mercer--who Woolf's mother is convinced knows more about Woolf's death than she has revealed; and his best friend, Vince Mahoney. With the help of her best friend, she unravels the mystery of what happened, revealing the darkside of her supposedly elite education. With a wry, up-the-patriarchy, wise-beyond-her-years narrator in Frankie and a page-turning plot, Fine Young People is a cold-case mystery with a Hitchcockian twist and a portrait of a young woman searching for meaning in a world that values achievement above all else--perfect for anyone who loves a campus novel with a decidedly contemporary voice.
Product Details
Price
$29.00
$26.97
Publisher
Algonquin Books
Publish Date
July 29, 2025
Pages
304
Dimensions
6.25 X 9.25 X 1.01 inches | 0.0 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781643757001
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About the Author
Anna Bruno is the author of Fine Young People (Algonquin, 2025) and Ordinary Hazards (Atria, 2020). She teaches at the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. Previously, Anna managed public relations and marketing for technology and financial services companies in Silicon Valley. She holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, an MBA from Cornell University, and a BA from Stanford University. She lives in Iowa City with her husband, two sons, and blue heeler.
Reviews
"An engrossing mystery about the perils of belonging, how joy and tragedy can irrevocably shape close-knit communities, and the all-consuming pursuit of the truth, Fine Young People grabbed me in the first few pages and never let me go. The sparkling prose, robust character work, and expert plotting make this novel perfect for readers of Liz Moore and Rebecca Makkai. An absolute gem."--Katy Hays, author of The Cloisters
"Fine Young People is, unusually but in more than one sense, a mystery novel--not only about the mystery of a young man's death some twenty years in the narrator's past but about the mystery of the overlapping things, the eternal present, the mysteries of faith and grief and friendship. What might be most impressive about it is how much it manages to express without ever laboring for breath. It's eloquent, but casual about it; moving, but casual about it; funny, but casual about it; suffused with the deep unknown, but casual about it."--Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories
"Fine Young People is a Holy Trinity of a novel: the sacred ground of Saint Ignatius ensconced in Pittsburgh's gritty beauty and industrial history, a captivating mystery that obsessed me at every turn, and complicated, unforgettable characters. Bruno excavates long-buried, multi-layered tragedy, unravels the tangled threads that tie Catholics to their faith, and interrogates the highs and harms of elite sports culture, navigating ambition, religion, family dysfunction, young love, and enduring friendships with the grace and fearlessness of a star athlete who knows all her plays by heart."--Katie Runde, author of The Shore
"Anna Bruno's Fine Young People is a superbly plotted and thoughtfully populated novel about members of a sports-loving community seeking answers to mysteries old and new. In these clever pages you'll also meet people who are healing from loss and betrayal, learning who they are and forging long-lasting friendships. This is a book for everyone."--De'Shawn Charles Winslow, author of Decent People
"Fine Young People is, unusually but in more than one sense, a mystery novel--not only about the mystery of a young man's death some twenty years in the narrator's past but about the mystery of the overlapping things, the eternal present, the mysteries of faith and grief and friendship. What might be most impressive about it is how much it manages to express without ever laboring for breath. It's eloquent, but casual about it; moving, but casual about it; funny, but casual about it; suffused with the deep unknown, but casual about it."--Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories
"Fine Young People is a Holy Trinity of a novel: the sacred ground of Saint Ignatius ensconced in Pittsburgh's gritty beauty and industrial history, a captivating mystery that obsessed me at every turn, and complicated, unforgettable characters. Bruno excavates long-buried, multi-layered tragedy, unravels the tangled threads that tie Catholics to their faith, and interrogates the highs and harms of elite sports culture, navigating ambition, religion, family dysfunction, young love, and enduring friendships with the grace and fearlessness of a star athlete who knows all her plays by heart."--Katie Runde, author of The Shore
"Anna Bruno's Fine Young People is a superbly plotted and thoughtfully populated novel about members of a sports-loving community seeking answers to mysteries old and new. In these clever pages you'll also meet people who are healing from loss and betrayal, learning who they are and forging long-lasting friendships. This is a book for everyone."--De'Shawn Charles Winslow, author of Decent People
