You Deserve Nothing

Set in an international high school in Paris, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is told in three voices: that of Will, a charismatic young teacher who brings ideas alive in the classroom in a way that profoundly affects his students; Gilad, one of Will's students who has grown up behind compound walls in places like Dakar and Dubai, and for whom Paris and Will's senior seminar are the first heady tastes of freedom; and Marie, the beautiful, vulnerable senior with whom, unbeknownst to Gilad, Will is having an illicit affair. Utterly compelling, brilliantly written, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is a captivating tale about teachers and students, of moral uncertainties and the coming of adulthood. It heralds the arrival of a brilliant new voice in fiction.

“One of the most engaged reads I've had in years - Alice Sebold A hugely satisfying and thought-provoking novel...There are echoes of The Secret History but You Deserve Nothing may be even more immediately appealing - Daily Mail Just the right amount of melancholy and, yes, even romance - Daily Telegraph Deftly evokes the beauty and pathos of Paris...This is a book to be read all at once with a glass of wine in a cafe or a cup of tea while tucked safely in bed - A.M. Homes Rivetingly plotted and beautifully written - New York Times You Deserve Nothing .... reminds the reader how powerful ideas and literature can be - not just by creating a memorably complex character in Will, but with some stunning prose of its own as well - Independent on Sunday Superb - Sunday Times A provocative, constantly surprising, and original novel written with precision and grace. [A] thrilling debut - Susanna Moore”

One of the most engaged reads I've had in years - Alice Sebold

A hugely satisfying and thought-provoking novel...There are echoes of The Secret History but You Deserve Nothing may be even more immediately appealing - Daily Mail

Just the right amount of melancholy and, yes, even romance - Daily Telegraph

Deftly evokes the beauty and pathos of Paris...This is a book to be read all at once with a glass of wine in a cafe or a cup of tea while tucked safely in bed - A.M. Homes

Rivetingly plotted and beautifully written - New York Times

You Deserve Nothing .... reminds the reader how powerful ideas and literature can be - not just by creating a memorably complex character in Will, but with some stunning prose of its own as well - Independent on Sunday

Superb - Sunday Times

A provocative, constantly surprising, and original novel written with precision and grace. [A] thrilling debut - Susanna Moore

Alexander Maksik is the recipient of a Truman Capote fellowship and a Teaching/Writing fellowship from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His work has been published in many literary magazines. This is his first novel.

Set in an international high school in Paris, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is told in three voices: that of Will, a charismatic young teacher who brings ideas alive in the classroom in a way that profoundly affects his students; Gilad, one of Will's students who has grown up behind compound walls in places like Dakar and Dubai, and for whom Paris and Will's senior seminar are the first heady tastes of freedom; and Marie, the beautiful, vulnerable senior with whom, unbeknownst to Gilad, Will is having an illicit affair. Utterly compelling, brilliantly written, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is a captivating tale about teachers and students, of moral uncertainties and the coming of adulthood. It heralds the arrival of a brilliant new voice in fiction.

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