The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe

Catch Me If You Can meets Patricia Highsmith in this electrifying page-turner of greed and obsession, survival and self-invention that is a piercing character study of one unforgettable female con artist.

"Becky Farwell is one of the most wickedly compelling characters I've read in ages -- a Machiavellian marvel, a modern Becky Sharp, a character to root for despite your better judgment -- and her story, both topical and timeless, will knock you off your feet." -- Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers

At the end of the 1990s, with the art market finally recovered from its disastrous collapse, Miss Rebecca Farwell has made a killing at Christie’s in New York City, selling a portion of her extraordinary art collection for a rumored 900 percent profit. Dressed in couture YSL, drinking the finest champagne at trendy Balthazar, Reba, as she’s known, is the picture of a wealthy art collector. To some, the elusive Miss Farwell is a shark with outstanding business acumen. To others, she’s a heartless capitalist whose only interest in art is how much she can make.

But a thousand miles from the Big Apple, in the small town of Pierson, Illinois, Miss Farwell is someone else entirely—a quiet single woman known as Becky who still lives in her family’s farmhouse, wears sensible shoes, and works tirelessly as the town’s treasurer and controller.

No one understands the ins and outs of Pierson’s accounts better than Becky; she’s the last one in the office every night, crunching the numbers. Somehow, her neighbors marvel, she always finds a way to get the struggling town just a little more money. What Pierson doesn’t see—and can never discover—is that much of that money is shifted into a separate account that she controls, “borrowed” funds used to finance her art habit. Though she quietly repays Pierson when she can, the business of art is cutthroat and unpredictable.

But as Reba Farwell’s deals get bigger and bigger, Becky Farwell’s debt to Pierson spirals out of control. How long can the talented Miss Farwell continue to pull off her double life? 

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About The Author

Emily Gray Tedrowe is the Chicago-based author of the novels The Talented Miss Farwell, Blue Stars, and Commuters. She earned a PhD in English literature from New York University, and a BA from Princeton University. She has received an Illinois Arts Council award as well as fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Sewanee Writers Conference. A frequent book reviewer for USA Today and other publications, Tedrowe also writes essays, interviews, and short stories.

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My Review

As I began this book and met this smart young woman, Becky, as she is finishing up high school. She is brilliant when it comes to math, and has been helping, or earning money, doing math papers all of her HS years, and she has taken over the management, or financial part of her father's business, so as much as she may want, college for this brilliant girl is not on the plate.
She begins her career with her local town, and again with her brilliant mind, she flourishes and advances, has she found her niche.
We follow this shy young woman as she blossoms and spreads her wings, and we cringe as she uses her gifts in a way to aid her obsession.
We wonder how long she can keep up what she is doing? Will her health give, or will her deeds be found out?
There is another world out there, and we are going deep into the bowels of it with Reba, and in the end, was it worth it?

I received this book through Edelweiss and the Publisher Custom House. and was not required to give a positive review.