An engaging, tender tale of two people uncovering the truth about the world, each other, and themselves.
In Graham’s novel, a man travels to France to settle the estate of his recently deceased aunt and encounters more than he bargained for.
Carl Box calls it “a bit of mischief” when he learns that Aunt Lillian has left him land in France upon her apparent death. He doesn’t want to travel at all, much less for someone he barely knows, and what little he does know of his aunt suggests she was estranged from the family for unclear reasons. When he arrives in Paris, he does all of the right things; he goes to her apartment and searches for information. After retrieving her ashes, Carl learns three things about his aunt: She is, in fact, alive; she’s being pursued by a mysterious killer; and she’s been smuggling KGB documents from Moscow to Paris to use as leverage to free her lover from wrongful imprisonment in a psychiatric institution. She has, along with faking her own death, selected her nephew to lend credibility to this ruse, but once he becomes a suspect in her murder, Lily gets him to help her gather information and escape certain death. Graham folds these larger-than-life events together masterfully, using humorous dialogue and specific details to bring readers into the world and make it real. Her vivid descriptions make easy work of picturing each situation and place: “Billy had taken to his Prussian blue dog bed like an overwrought lady in a Victorian melodrama.” Likewise, Graham does a remarkable job of building suspense throughout her novel, and each section comes with both new questions and answers, continually giving readers fresh developments to ponder. Additionally, the cast’s voices infuse levity and personality into the text. For example, in response to Carl revealing that the police suspected him to be Lily’s killer, she replies nonchalantly: “‘But of course you didn’t,’ she said soothingly while spooning potatoes onto [Carl’s] plate.” These parts swirl together to create a striking balance of excitement, humor, and sincerity, perfect for anyone seeking a lively, twisty adventure.
An engaging, tender tale of two people uncovering the truth about the world, each other, and themselves.Pub Date: May 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798992174724
Page Count: 378
Publisher: Vendome Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.
An artwork’s value grows if you understand the stories of the people who inspired it.
Never in her wildest dreams would foster kid Louisa dream of meeting C. Jat, the famous painter of The One of the Sea, which depicts a group of young teens on a pier on a hot summer’s day. But in Backman’s latest, that’s just what happens—an unexpected (but not unbelievable) set of circumstances causes their paths to collide right before the dying 39-year-old artist’s departure from the world. One of his final acts is to bequeath that painting to Louisa, who has endured a string of violent foster homes since her mother abandoned her as a child. Selling the painting will change her life—but can she do it? Before deciding, she accompanies Ted, one of the artist’s close friends and one of the young teens captured in that celebrated painting, on a train journey to take the artist’s ashes to his hometown. She wants to know all about the painting, which launched Jat’s career at age 14, and the circle of beloved friends who inspired it. The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (2014) and other novels, Backman gives us a heartwarming story about how these friends, set adrift by the violence and unhappiness of their homes, found each other and created a new definition of family. “You think you’re alone,” one character explains, “but there are others like you, people who stand in front of white walls and blank paper and only see magical things. One day one of them will recognize you and call out: ‘You’re one of us!’” As Ted tells stories about his friends—how Jat doubted his talents but found a champion in fiery Joar, who took on every bully to defend him; how Ali brought an excitement to their circle that was “like a blinding light, like a heart attack”—Louisa recognizes herself as a kindred soul and feels a calling to realize her own artistic gifts. What she decides to do with the painting is part of a caper worthy of the stories that Ted tells her. The novel is humorous, poignant, and always life-affirming, even when describing the bleakness of the teens’ early lives. “Art is a fragile magic, just like love,” as someone tells Louisa, “and that’s humanity’s only defense against death.”
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781982112820
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
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