The Last Supper

by Wendy J. Fox

From the critically acclaimed author of What If We Were Somewhere Else, If The Ice Had Held, The Seven Stages of Anger and Other Stories, and The Pull of It, comes The Last Supper.
 
The Last Supper follows three months in the chaotic life of Amanda, a middle-aged stay-at-home mom who is desperate for something more than world of her suburb. She has failed at multi-level marketing, and she is failing at being mom-fluencer, all while living in terror of what's for dinner. Yet, when the cracks in her marriage finally split wide enough, Amanda sees a path to reclaim both her own creative and economic agency. 

Past Praise for Wendy J. Fox
"Fox's prose is laced with tenderness, exploring lives measured in acceptance, kindness and connection. Even while moving insightfully through the more alienating facets of office culture — networking parties, breakroom concerns — Fox invests most of all in what makes us people over those closely held moments pregnant with change, when a new life could break open if we just reach for the person next to us." - New York Times

"Wendy J. Fox delivers a realistic, emotionally driven set of interlinked stories. Relatable, affecting, and at times absurd, this collection is for anyone who has felt frustrated at work." - Booklist Starred Review

"Fox delivers finely observed, lyrical, storytelling, persuasive in its depiction of everyday unions and choices ... this is eloquent tale-spinning lit by unshowy portraiture. A small world, but a perceptible talent." - Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Fiction

292 pages, Paperback

Published April 7, 2026

About the author

Wendy J. Fox is the author of five books of fiction, including What If We Were Somewhere Else (SFWP, 2021), which won the Colorado Book Award and received a star for excellence in the genre of short-stories from Booklist. Her 2019 novel, If the Ice Had Held, was a top pick in audio for LitHub. She has written for many national publications including Self, Business Insider, BuzzFeed, and Ms. and authors a quarterly column in Electric Literature focusing on independent books. She is a former SVP of marketing for a green tech firm. Her forthcoming novel is The Last Supper.

Reviews

[cursedb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amanda is such a nuanced protagonist we see her transition from a woman living in fear of her own domesticity to someone ready to reclaim her economic and creative power.The revelation regarding Sarah was heartbreaking but handled with a realism that felt true to life. I particularly appreciated the evolving relationship between Amanda and her mother, Camille; it provided a beautiful counterpoint to the dissolution of the marriage. This book is a reminder that sometimes things have to completely fall apart before you can build something that actually fits you.

[Morgan Lent · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 (or 2 really). Well written and immersive! However I found myself asking, “what’s the point?” The lack of true ending is frustrating and I have more questions than answers

[Mark Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amanda is hoping for a reset and by about page three of Wendy J. Fox’s brilliant, immersive new novel, The Last Supper, you’ll completely understand why.

She’s in a battle against clutter in her home. The kitchen is a mess, laundry is strewn about. Her closet is overstuffed. Son Toby (eight) wants to wear pajamas to school rather than pants. Son number two Blake (three) is napping and maybe it’s best to not interrupt. She’s planning her own fortieth birthday party tomorrow. She’s throwing the party for herself. Trying on a dress she plans to wear, the zipper gets stuck. Weight has always been an issue. Throwing out a plea for help, neighbor Dani (who is childless and on her second husband) doesn’t reply to a text.

And one more thing. She’s keeping a secret from her husband, Kyle. That secret? The birthday dinner party is “a kind of debut.” Amanda is worried Kyle will mock the idea she’s got for her new beginning.

“Officially middle-aged, two kids to go with it, but if the party tomorrow could be perfect, it was her opportunity to transcend being just Blake and Toby’s mom, just Kyle’s wife. She wanted to launch to a fuller, more creative life, like what Dani had, where she could make some of her own money, which she missed having.”

Scrambling around with dinner for the kids and fretting about the details for the party the next day, Amanda texts Kyle wondering when he’ll be home. And Kyle says it’s Friday night so he’s heading out “the guys” from work.

On the day of the party, Kyle isn’t much help but Amanda pulls it together. Champagne. Crab cakes (fake crab). Toast points. Dani takes photos. And we soon realize that the entire party is a curated story to be told on social media. Because Amanda is starting a “lifestyle brand.” And Amanda will be an influencer under the name AMANDAtory. “Maybe her look, her brand, was that nothing could be perfect. Maybe she could influence imperfections.”

Key word: maybe. Amanda is in a constant state of comparing her world with how her mother sails through life and she’s full of envy for two college friends who seem to juggle motherhood and work with ease. Amanda is a whirlwind of household chores, too. Laundry, cleaning, carpooling, and cooking (while battling eating preferences among both kids and husband Kyle). And she’s in a constant state of low-grade self-loathing on top of everything else. (“Her body felt like butterscotch pudding piped into a flimsy sandwich bag.”)

Fox wrote What If We Were Somewhere Else, which went on to win the Colorado Book Award, and she’s written some of the most compelling and highly original short stories I’ve ever read (look no further than The Seven Stages of Anger). The Last Supper echoes the themes of What If We Were Somewhere Else—struggling relationships and job loss in particular. When Kyle gets fired we’re heading into familiar Fox issue about the impact of unemployment on dignity and self-worth.

Fox provides no geographic specificity to The Last Supper and the characters arrive without surnames, which gives the whole novel a free-floating (in a good way) universality. We could be anywhere. We are everywhere. This stylistic choice gives us more time for Amanda’s thoughts and you might find yourself wanting her to tell Kyle to shape up and snap out of it and make a commitment to his family, but I’ll bet you also know plenty of married couples where all the quotidian details of family life are not evenly shared.

Reading The Last Supper, you will feel a touch claustrophobic on behalf of Amanda as she tries to keep up appearances, find her new self, and conjure her new online presence against all the everyday reminders about what is really real. You will feel the walls closing in.

As she prepares to dole out advice to the unseen masses, Amanda is a major consumer of counsel from her mother, from neighbor Dani, and friends. The Last Supper will make you question the authority of every “influencer” you come across online and also make you yearn for a long walk in a quiet forest, sans electronic devices.

The Last Supper is a perfect follow-up to What If We Were Somewhere Else and another immersive—and troubling—look at the way we live today.

[Kathryn Trueblood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The absence of men for the domestic shift and the way women shoulder the majority of household labor is a well-known fact. Yet this novel takes that reality somewhere new and very contemporary. Not one woman in the novel has a supportive relationship, yet there are no uber empowerment arcs here. Amanda’s steps towards fulfillment and divorce are tentative at best. She keeps revising the Executive Summary for her influencer lifestyle brand with less conviction. The gem at the heart of this novel for me was the burgeoning friendship between Amanda and her mother pending the divorce. The early scenes between them are comically charged. Amanda’s mother, Camille, is so locked into her role as a litigator that she only goes by her first name. Amanda must request permission to call her “mother” and explain that her grandsons need her. Eventually, Amanda learns what life was like for her mother when her own father departed, and what made her mother appear so outwardly tough. As Camille says, “Did you know that extreme independence can be a trauma response?” Camille steps fully into the family collective and alters the role of the story in unexpected ways. It reminded me of how my mother supported me and my two children through my divorce, and I bet, for many women, this story will resonate. It’s not one that has been told enough.

[Coquille Fleur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is all about relationships and I loved how it isn't a romance novel, but had plucky, fun, deep characters like a romance would. Even the children have personalities--Toby, what a guy! Amanda, the protagonist, is so real as she tries to find the meaning in her life. The stories she tells herself and her inner dialouge are so relatable and unfiltered, especially when it comes to shapewear. There are some really funny scenes that help balance the darker moments. I loved the resolution at the end. Not what I was expecting, but such a great way for Amanda and her people to support each other.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of stay-at-home mom Amanda, who, via a series of questionable choices, is desperately trying to create a not-just-a-mom identity, this one had me thinking, “Girl. Oh, girrlll...” more than once. But Amanda is endearing, as is the cast of secondary characters, and you’ll find yourself cheering them along. This is a quick, fun read with a deeper message about our lives and choices.

[Jen Michalski · Rating 5 out of 5]

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