{"product_id":"speech-team-isbn-9780593653869","title":"Speech Team","description":"\u003cb\u003e“A tender-hearted novel and a dream to read. I loved this book.” -- Matt Haig #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Midnight Library\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“so so so so good…[Speech Team] is a MUST…It has all the feels and brilliant writing to boot.”  -- Elin Hilderband (on Instagram) #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Five Star Weekend\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA funny, gossipy and ultimately poignant novel about four Gen X teen friends turned 21st-century adults who awkwardly come back together to confront an influential teacher whose brutal remarks have haunted them all for years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In his early forties, nonprofit writer Tip Murray is just getting past the wreckage of his youth and settling into semi-humdrum married New England domesticity. Things take an unusual turn when he receives shocking news from his high school best friend, hippie farmer Natalie, that one of their former teammates from speech team, Pete, has committed suicide. Surprisingly mentioned in Pete’s final Facebook post?  A devastating comment made to him by their speech team coach, Gary Gold.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Feeling nostalgic for their 80s adolescence, Tip and Nat decide to reconnect with two long lost friends from the team, haughty menswear designer Anthony and tightly wound college professor Jennifer. The reunited quartet quickly discover an unsettling thread: all were quietly wounded by Mr. Gold’s deeply cutting remarks. The silver lining? Gold is still alive, and a quick Google search shows that he has retired to Florida. There’s only one thing left to do: fly down to a posh resort to confront him. What happens next is far from what any of them could have imagined.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Fueled by cringe-y confrontations and 80s nostalgia, a literary mashup of \u003ci\u003eThe Breakfast Club \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Big Chill\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e explores what it means to take account of the pain that can suffuse a life and what it means, years on, to move forward.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Tim Murphy is a genius at sweeping, character-driven stories that suck you in until the very last page, and \u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e is no exception.\" —Andy Cohen\u003c\/b\u003e\"A hugely absorbing and deeply heartfelt tale about friendship, unhealed scars and second chances.\" \u003cb\u003e—Star Tribune\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Touching\"\u003cb\u003e—The Washington Post\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eTim Murphy is a genius\u003c\/b\u003e at sweeping, character-driven stories that suck you in until the very last page, and \u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e is no exception.\"\u003cb\u003e —Andy Cohen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eIt is a dream to read \u003c\/b\u003eand Tim Murphy cares so much for his characters that you absolutely believe they live. Which, thanks to snappy dialogue and emotional characterization, they do. Ultimately, it is a book about growing up and how we do it. I am a total newbie to the world of Speech Teams but\u003cb\u003e I loved this book\u003c\/b\u003e.” \u003cb\u003e—Matt Haig author of the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller, \u003ci\u003eThe Midnight Library\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Murphy, a longtime journalist and author of the novels \u003ci\u003eChristodora \u003c\/i\u003e(2016) and \u003ci\u003eCorrespondents \u003c\/i\u003e(2019), again brings his finely tuned ability to portray subtle group dynamics to bear in this semiautobiographical update of the \u003ci\u003eBig Chill \u003c\/i\u003etrope...Misfit kids of the 1970s and ’80s—here's the class reunion you were waiting for.\" \u003cb\u003e—Kirkus\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Bittersweet, witty, and rife with ‘80s nostalgia, \u003ci\u003eSpeech Team \u003c\/i\u003etells the story of old friends on a mission for accountability and closure.\" \u003cb\u003e—Bustle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Hopeful, darkly comic, and brimming with nostalgia\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e follows a plucky cast of misfits as they reckon with how the past haunts their present. Twenty-five years after graduating high school and growing apart, a shocking event reunites four friends to confront the teacher who both saved and tormented them as teenagers. Their quest is compelling on its own, but \u003cb\u003eit’s Tim Murphy’s tender, compassionate prose that hooked me\u003c\/b\u003e—that, and all the delicious messiness. Like the juiciest gossip, \u003cb\u003eyou'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to call a friend and scream. \u003c\/b\u003eThis book gives new meaning to what it means to forgive and forget.\" \u003cb\u003e —Edgar Gomez, author of \u003ci\u003eHigh Risk Homosexual\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Very few novelists can write with such daring, hilarity, and heartbreak as Tim Murphy. \u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e is so wildly entertaining you don’t realize its punch until it knocks you flat. The novel is an ode to growing up in the ’80s and reliving those messy, uncouth years in relatively wiser adulthood. But its real subject is the wounds inflicted in our youth that become both our making and unmaking. Murphy creates characters so vivid we don’t want to let them go.” \u003cb\u003e—Christopher Bollen, \u003ci\u003eauthor of The Lost Americans and A Beautiful Crime\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e is irresistible: a poignant, funny, achingly relatable tale of youth, aging, and friendship—and the universal process of untangling the past to stitch together the present and future. This is one of those rare novels that’s both illuminating and delightful; I swallowed it whole.\"\u003cb\u003e—Lauren Acampora, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Hundred Waters and The Paper Wasp\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e is a page-turning pleasure, with a clear-eyed exploration of rediscovered friendships, the unruly passage of time and the extreme unlikeliness of ever truly growing up. Tim Murphy’s writing is joyously specific and acerbically moving, with a deep affection for every sort of character. Readers will cherish this book.\" \u003cb\u003e—Paul Rudnick, author of \u003ci\u003eFarrell Covington and the Limits of Style\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"How Tip, Anthony, Nat and Jenn confront their tormentor, and what happens, is unexpected and surprising. A page turning, often funny caper that is also a smart exploration of Gen X characters caught between Old Guard Baby Boomer power and today’s hyper-awareness of trauma and identity. \u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e asks: Can we ever liberate ourselves from the past?\" —\u003cb\u003eMike Albo, author of \u003ci\u003eAnother Dimension of Us\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Like the oratory of its misfit gang of multi-culti characters, \u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e grabs your attention, holds on tight, makes you laugh, makes you think, and might change your mind about a thing or two along the way. First place!\"\u003cb\u003e —James Hannaham, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eDelicious Foods and Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“A high school revenge fantasy disguised as a romp, shot through with longing and loss, narrated by a gimlet-eyed gay ringleader? Please and thank you, Tim Murphy.\"\u003cb\u003e —Christopher Castellani, author of \u003ci\u003eLeading Men\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Tim Murphy’s riveting\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ebravely and beautifully wrestles with two of the fiercest taboos in today’s contentious zeitgeist — nuance and forgiveness.” \u003cb\u003e—Blair Fell, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Sign For Home\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e“\u003ci\u003eSpeech Team\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eis a provocative look at how words matter, how they can shape our whole lives. This book left me contemplating the hope we seek in relationships, the courage it takes to face the past, and the power of simply being loved. Told with sharp humor and deep insight, this is an important story for where we are today.” \u003cb\u003e—Maulik Pancholy, award winning author and actor\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eTim Murphy\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eCorrespondents\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eChristodora\u003c\/i\u003e,   which was long-listed for the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in   Fiction and named a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e. He has also   been a journalist for the past twenty-five years.","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300995256549,"sku":"NP9780593653869","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593653869.jpg?v=1767737058","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/speech-team-isbn-9780593653869","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}