The Happy Average

The Happy Average captures a moment every generation knows: the terrifying, exhilarating first steps into the rest of your life. Glenn Marley has just graduated from college, which means he's technically qualified for everything and prepared for nothing. When his friend Lawrence drags him to call on the Carters, Glenn faces the more immediate crisis of impressing Lavinia Blair without appearing too eager. The problem is that dignity and desire rarely occupy the same room, and Glenn's attempts to seem casually indifferent while being deeply, painfully invested in every word she says will be recognizable to anyone who has ever been young and in love. Whitlock writes with a wry, affectionate eye toward the small tragedies of awkwardness: the too-loud laugh, the missed cue, the desperate wish to rewind thirty seconds. Set in a small town where everyone knows everyone and reputation is currency, this is a comedy of manners wrapped around a genuine romantic heart. Glenn wants to be a lawyer, wants to be worthy of Lavinia, wants to become the version of himself he imagines is waiting just over the horizon. The question the novel asks, gently, is whether that future self and this one can ever be reconciled. It's a period piece, yes, but the emotions are eternal.