It's that time of year when book lovers and critics declare their favorites from the prior 12 months. The latest by today's guest on Writers at Work has been turning up on quite a few of those lists. She is Jessica Anthony, and the book is THE MOST, a, crisp, suspenseful, wonderfully detailed, and altogether remarkable study of a marriage and a woman who has had enough.

I count it among my favorite books of 2024. Jessica has a remarkable biography that I'll be asking her about. The Oneida, New York, native earned a BA in English Lit and an MFA in Fiction, was a butcher in Alaska and an English teacher in Prague and remote villages in Poland.

While working on THE MOST, she guarded a bridge that linked Slovakia and Hungary. THE MOST is Jessica's fourth book, following, among others, ENTER THE AARDVARK, a political satire that was the subject of a heated auction among six publishers. It was a finalist for the New England Book Award in fiction this year.

THE MOST was long listed for the National Book Award for Fiction. The National Book Foundation describes it thusly: Set over the course of eight hours. Jessica's Anthony's THE MOST paints an intimate portrait of a marriage in the late 1950s, and the secrets, expectations and lost loves that tells a story of one seemingly unremarkable couple and a larger cultural moment. That says much, but only hints at the wonders of THE MOST.

I'm delighted to talk to Jessica about her quietly amazing book.