The epicure's lament : A novel / Kate Christensen

Composed as a series of journal entries by epicure and would-be hermit Hugo Whittier, this novel recounts the intrusions of a variety of family members and their friends into his solitary life at his home on the Hudson. The fortyish, misanthropic Hugo, who is presumably dying of the rare and painful Buerger's disease because he refuses to quit smoking, sets about causing trouble in the hopes of ridding himself of these interlopers, even as he insinuates himself into their lives. He undertakes an affair with his sister-in-law's best friend, Stephanie, and contracts for the death of Stephanie's husband, who he believes is a child molester. He entertains dishonorable intentions toward his brother's teenaged nanny and attempts to drive Sonia, his estranged wife, and alleged daughter Bellatrix out of his house and back to New York. Everything culminates in a lavish Christmas dinner involving all the major characters, after which Hugo plans to end his life.