REVIEW: ‘The Talented Miss Farwell’ by Emily Gray Tedrowe
Image courtesy of HarperCollins / Provided by official site.
There’s something remarkably simple and everyday about the plot of Emily Gray Tedrowe’s new book, The Talented Miss Farwell, which, as the title suggests, is an homage to Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. Much like its inspiration, Tedrowe’s book has actions and characterizations that effortlessly move along a trajectory with virtually no judgments or hitting of the pause button — it’s everyday life, but with a criminal at the center.
In the narrative, Miss Rebecca “Becky” Farwell finds a unique opportunity to feed her growing art collection obsession, and, without overthinking it, she simply continues down that rabbit hole. Only much later do the consequences of her actions come to bear, and the readers are left wondering whether Becky is someone they should have been rooting for or rooting against.
The setting for the book is Pierson, Illinois, a small farming community that struggles economically over the course of the story. Becky grew up in the town with her father, a local farmer. As she came of age, she began to see there was a financial incentive to helping her father’s operations, and she carried this experience over to a a successful career as Pierson’s comptroller, essentially running the books and accounts for the municipal government.
At the same time that Becky’s life starts to gain traction, she becomes enamored with the art market, making frequent trips to Chicago to see rare items up for auction and sale. The problem is that Becky doesn’t have the money to buy these rare items, and that’s a shame because she is confident in her ability to flip the paintings for a sizable profit. All she needs is some seed money, and she’s sure that her art buying can pay dividends one day.
Of course, this is when Becky begins traveling down that rabbit hole. She starts a multi-year heist of the town’s funds, and she accomplishes this repeated task, over and over again, by setting up sham accounts and always handling the town’s mail. For the most part, the scam works, but eventually Becky’s hunger for larger and larger profits (even bigger wins at art auctions) gets the best of her.
Tedrowe has a wonderful writing style that clearly carves out the protagonist of Becky, but passes no judgment and allows her to make a series of bad decisions without hitting the pause button. One of the reasons that Becky is able to go so far with her theft is because people in her life — whether her best friend or her fellow municipal workers — cannot envision her as a criminal. They put so much trust in her handling of the books and the handling of the town’s future that they cannot fathom they are being bilked at the same time.
Because Becky is presented as an everyday person with an unhealthy obsession, her crimes and double life seem almost passable or shockingly justified. There’s almost a case to be made that the town is better off having a secret hand in the high-stakes art market. However, all good things must come to an end. When the national economy tanks, and the art market follows suit, Becky finds herself in an impossible situation — owing the town an exorbitant amount of money and having beautiful pieces of art that no one is willing to buy for the asking price. Then, Becky’s sins are made apparent to the audience. She has not been propping up the town for years; she’s actually been holding Pierson back from economic solvency. The poverty and stress of the municipality are due in large part to her obsession that has clearly gotten out of control.
In many ways, The Talented Miss Farwell is an allegory for capitalistic excess and how individuals and their selfish actions can have reverberating effects on communities for a generation or more.
Tedrowe, author of Blue Stars and Commuters, has crafted a fascinating portrait of a central character walking along the razor’s edge of success and self-destruction. Miss Farwell, as a protagonist, is an engaging person to watch, especially as her carefully thought out plans start to come undone.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe. 352 pages. William Morrow. Click here for more information.
