Last Resort
by Alison Lurie
At the end of his tether, a writer travels to Key West with his wife. She's hoping to cheer him up, but he's hoping for something more fatal . . .Every schoolboy in America knows the work of Wilkie Walker. A pioneering naturalist, he won fame and fortune with his accessible nature books. But by the time he turns seventy, his renown is nearly gone. Late at night, he sits up torturing himself with fears that his career was a waste, his talent is gone, and his body is shot through with cancer. His wife, Jenny, twenty-five years younger than Wilkie, can tell only that he is out of sorts. She has no idea her husband is on the verge of giving up on life.When Jenny suggests spending the winter in Key West, Wilkie goes along with it. After all, if you need to plan a fatal "accident," Florida is a perfectly good place to do so. And when they touch down in the sunshine state, the Walkers find it's not too late to live life—or end it—however they damn well please.This...