**A Book of 2023 in the Guardian, Irish Times, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire and i-D** In a university town in the American Midwest a circle of lovers and friends navigate tangled webs of connection as they try to work out what they want, and who they are As they test their own desires in a series of relationships they are confronted by volatile figures in town, from unruly, vulnerable young poets to a local landlord harbouring a lifetime of resentment. Seamus, Fyodor, Ivan, Noah and Fatima ask themselves and each other- what is the right thing to stake a life on? Work, love, money, dance, poetry? Is love possible without harm? And what does true connection look like in an age of precarity? 'The Late Americans is a full expression of his singular talent' Emma Cline, author of The Girls 'Taylor is a sharp chronicler of the body' Raven Leilani, author of Luster 'Elegant... Taylor has a Chekhovian generosity' Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children