The Love You Take

The Love You Take follows Andy and a small circle of clever, idiosyncratic, and highly engaging friends as they journey from youth to adulthood against the unsettling social and political landscape of the 1970s. At pivotal moments—accidents, betrayals, and revelations—the characters face consequential emotional decisions and navigate unexpected challenges. A farcical trip to Key West and an emotionally draining encounter in Charlottesville inform the course of Andy’s life and the lives of those around him, especially two memorable, charismatic women Andy loves. With vivid characters, a keen sense of place, and warm humor, The Love You Take explores the lasting impact of our choices, and the moments—both comic and profound—that shape us on the passage to adulthood.

Robert Wilson is the author of biographies of three nineteenth-century Americans: P. T. Barnum, Mathew Brady, and Clarence King. He was the editor of The American Scholar from 2004 to 2022, and before that of the AARP Bulletin and Preservation magazine. He was also founding literary editor of Civilization, book editor and columnist for USA Today, and an editor at The Washington Post Book World. His essays, reviews, and fiction have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers. He lives in Manassas, Virginia.

“Robert Wilson’s energetic, funny, sad, extremely relatable book about transitioning into adulthood is played against the serious backdrop of Vietnam and its aftereffects.” 
—Ann Beattie, author of The New Yorker Stories and Chilly Scenes of Winter

“The Love You Take is a novel of rare beauty. Wilson’s clarity of expression gives us a perfectly transparent window into the lives of these characters and the times in which they lived. As I read, I kept being reminded of another great American realist, Richard Yates. I was entranced by this book.” 
—Steve Yarbrough, author of Stay Gone Days and
The Unmade World