"Arthur Alter is in trouble. He can't afford his mortgage, he's exasperated his girlfriend, and his kids won't speak to him. There's also the fortune his late wife, Francine, kept secret and bequeathed directly to his children: Ethan, an anxious recluse living off his mother's money, and Maggie, who is trying to live a noble life of self-imposed poverty. About to lose the family home, Arthur invites his children to visit under the guise of a reconciliation. But in doing so, he unwittingly unleashes age-old resentments and long-buried memories. The Altruists is a darkly funny family saga that confronts the divide between baby boomers and their millennial offspring."--Back cover.

A vibrant and perceptive novel about a father's plot to win back his children's inheritance. Arthur Alter is in trouble. A middling professor at a Midwestern college, he can't afford his mortgage, he's exasperated his much-younger girlfriend, and his kids won't speak to him. And then there's the money--the small fortune his late wife Francine kept secret, which she bequeathed directly to his children. Those children are Ethan, an anxious recluse living off his mother's money on a choice plot of Brooklyn real estate; and Maggie, a would-be do-gooder trying to fashion herself a noble life of self-imposed poverty. On the verge of losing the family home, Arthur invites his children back to St. Louis under the guise of a reconciliation. But in doing so, he unwittingly unleashes a Pandora's box of age-old resentments and long-buried memories--memories that orbit Francine, the matriarch whose life may hold the key to keeping them together. Spanning New York, Paris, Boston, St. Louis, and a sm