The Beggar's Pawn: A Novel

by John L'Heureux

The final book by the noted novelist, short story writer, and teacher John L'Heureux: the story of an affable stranger whose appeals for money gradually upend the lives of an academic's family.

After a decades-long career as a critically acclaimed writer (including several novels with Viking and Penguin in the late '80s and early '90s) John L'Heureux had a late flowering in his career. In the year before his death in April of 2019, The New Yorker published three of his stories, and a collection of his short stories will be published by A Public Space in December 2019.

His final novel, The Beggar's Pawn, is the story of a family whose chance meeting with a stranger while dog walking slowly becomes an ominous invasion of their domestic lives. David and Maggie Holliss are an ordinary married couple about to ease into a comfortable, well-earned retirement while tending to three middle-aged children with whom they share an edgy relationship of love and resentment. Reginald Parker enters their lives when he saves their dog from being run over by a truck, and when asked how they can possibly thank him, he replies with a request for the loan of two hundred dollars. They lend it to him, gladly, and thus begins what will become for them and their family a nightmare that moves from comic resignation to stark tragedy. In The Beggar's Pawn, John L'Heureux explores the strains of marriage, the nature of trust, the limits of love, and the inevitability of fate.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

272 pages, Paperback

Published August 4, 2020

About the author

John L'Heureux served on both sides of the writing desk: as staff editor and contributing editor for The Atlantic and as the author of sixteen books of poetry and fiction. His stories appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harper's, The New Yorker, and have frequently been anthologized in Best American Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. His experiences as editor and writer informed and direct his teaching of writing. Starting in 1973, he taught fiction writing, the short story, and dramatic literature at Stanford. In 1981, he received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and again in 1998. His recent publications include a collection of stories, Comedians, and the novels, The Handmaid of Desire (1996), Having Everything (1999), and The Miracle (2002).

http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/m...

Reviews

[Carl R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

John L'Heureux is a well-known literary personage, though I've read little of his work until The Beggar's Pawn crossed my path. I usually find it easy to detach my personal feelings about a book's characters and events and judge according to literary values. I also try to avoid spoilers. With this one, though, I'm making an exception. Whatever the novel's other virtues, I cannot forgive L'Heureux for having a father drown his little daughter. The event, to my mind, is both unnecessarily graphic and altogether unnecessary to the narrative. It borders on literary pornography.
Nothing else to say. 

[Pascale · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Beggar's Pawn" is the story of a couple who find themselves morally blackmailed by a sour drug addict who insinuates his way into their family. David is a moderately productive academic who has always felt bad about living partly on his wife's inherited wealth, while enjoying the freedom and the perks this has given him. Like most people, David and Maggie have a complicated relationship with money. When their seedy-looking neighbor Reginald starts borrowing a few hundred dollars from them here and there, they hate it but find it easier to say yes than to refuse him. Reginald pretends to be at work on an ambitious novel, just to have an excuse to do nothing (except recreational drugs) while his wife works long hours at ill-paid jobs. In fact, like Maggie, Reginald comes from a moneyed family and is waiting for his inheritance without realizing that he has antagonized his granny to such an extent that she won't leave him a red cent. Reginald's most valuable asset is his beautiful daughter Iris, who becomes a substitute grand-daughter to David and Maggie. Although they have grand-children of their own, none of them live locally, and their adult children have become a source of anguish and disappointment to them. Claire is a vindictive lesbian who resents her parents so much that she sleeps with Reginald and feeds him all sorts of nasty stories about David and Maggie. In fact resentment is the major theme of the book, along with money, with which it is intertwined. Claire's brothers Will and Sedge also have issues with their parents. Will believes they wrecked his life by appointing him the Perfect Son, and Sedge lays his promiscuity at their door. Parents can't get anything right, right? But what nearly topples David and Maggie isn't the skirmishes with their spoilt offspring, but Reginald's fury when he realizes he has been left out of his grand-mother's will. Conflating her (very understandable) rejection of him with the more and more openly scornful attitude of David and Maggie, Reginald loses his grip and makes a terrible scene in front of Iris. Incapable of living down the shame of having bullied the frail elderly couple in front of his own child, Reginald drowns her in David's swimming pool. Strangely enough after such a violent climax, L'Heureux gives the novel a muted and almost joyful ending, with David and Maggie reconciled with their 3 children and facing mortality gracefully. It's too early to say but I think this last novel by L'Heureux, posthumously published thanks to his student Tobias Wolff, will probably stick in my mind for a while.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

For most of the book, there is a 'comedy of manners' tone, concerning the have and the have nots. The Hollises, a well-to-do faculty couple in Palo Alto, CA, encounter a young man, Reg Parker, with literary pretensions while walking their dog, Dickens. Later, Reg saves Dickens from being run over, and is emboldened to ask the older couple for a loan. Soon, Reg's wife and precocious young daughter enter the story, as do the Hollises three adult children, all of whom depend on parental funds from time to time. Gradually, the novel takes a darker turn.

L'Heureux's last book moves quickly, and the prose is deft, but the unlikeability of many - if not most - of the characters is a bit of a drawback.

[Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like books that explore the capacity for a human to trust and the lengths one will go to deceive. How much does it take to break one's trust? These are the questions that beg to be answered in The Beggar's Pawn. With a unique plot, that is indescribable and characters that leap from the pages. . . this book is absolutely begging to be read. I had never heard of the author before, but was very happy to have requested the book from NetGalley. It's a thriller that I will definitely recommend to customers.

[alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 this just made me so mad at reginald and just wanting him out of the picture. he’s not only a selfish man but sick in the head, full on drug addict that kills his own daughter for vengeance against an old couple because they have money and he doesn’t 😭❓ i can understand his pov regarding the matter but it just doesn’t justify his actions at all. using his daughter as a bribing tool to get money for drugs while he’s ‘a professional writer’ living off of his wife’s income and pestering her over not earning enough. hypocrite

[Esther Friedlander · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day book for me.

It’s not that it’s necessarily fantastic literary work. It’s a good story and it’s compelling and I got into it. I don’t know. What a lovely marriage and what an awful man and what a sweet girl and Misery and Poop! Just a pleasant one day read that has an evil evil horrible ending that is unforgivable but at the same time a good twist and I actually cared which I think means it was good and yada yada yada

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent read, as it really delves into human nature and our relationship with trust. The author's story of a man entering the lives of a married couple after saving their dog and borrowing $200 is unique in the best possible way. I enjoyed the journey of these characters.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see these characters in a movie with a glorious set design like those in a Nancy Meyers movie. Stanford professor and wife with grown, dysfunctional children are harassed by a wannabe novelist. A somewhat plodding book with a terrible twist at the end.

[Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing and real. However, that the protagonists are so well off--this distances a common reader like myself. (Poor.) The ending is good--wish there were more scenes to really make the tragedy really tragic.

[Karen McCamant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with others who found the characters in this novel, almost without exception, detestable. But still, although devastating, the story was power, gorgeously written, and - by some miracle- hopeful.

[Annarella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the style of writing but the story didn't keep my attention and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Madhur · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was just...fine. I liked the writing and the plot wasn't too boring but it definitely didn't leave me enraptured.

[Mariah Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected but in a good way. The ending was surprising. Would definitely read again.

[Shae · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing style felt stilted and old fashioned and every character, with 2 exceptions, was just awful.

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. The author brings a drolly satirical, light touch but I nevertheless found myself interested in, and very much liking, the older couple. Their children are hilarious. The neighbor is less finely drawn and less believable, but fascinating. This would make a very good one-season TV series.

[Ren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've never felt so indifferent to a book in my life. Can't think of a single thing to say about it

[Mindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book.
Pushed through based on a friends rec.
There are to many books and to little time to have read this one. If negative stars were a thing I this book would get 10.