I didn’t realize we were working class until I had more of a comparison with a place like that, where extreme wealth was on display. Jason Allen: Well, when I was a kid, my mom ended up working at a millionaire family’s summer estate in Southampton. Interview:īarrett Bowlin: I know you’ve mined a lot of your experience growing up in the Hamptons for material in the novel, but what were some of the biggest moments you encountered of the class divide there? What stands out to you years later? Late one night this spring, we talked about growing up there, about writing between genres, and about addiction and recovery-both his own and that of his characters. Having once lived and labored for the rich in this world, Allen returns to it as the source material for his first major work of fiction. And her billionaire employer, Leo Sheffield, sees his own mansion in South Fork as a refuge for a private meeting, held on the night before Memorial Day weekend begins, before his own family and neighbors will come to intrude on his secrets. His mother, Gina, sees the act of cleaning these homes as a means to an income for her and her sons to survive on.

One of the most important lessons we get from reading Jason Allen‘s debut novel, The East End (Park Row/HarperCollins), is that so much of what happens to us depends on perspective.Ĭorey Halpern, one of the main characters, sees the formidable, barely used, multimillion-dollar estates in the Hamptons where he works sometimes as open spaces, places to break into and explore since their owners leave them largely untouched.

The east end by jason allen