Synopses & Reviews
The New York Times and Globe & Mail-bestselling author of The Imperfectionists returns with an intricately woven novel about a bookseller who travels the world to make sense of her puzzling past.
Tooly Zylberberg tells a story: as a child, she was stolen from home, stashed at a den of thieves, then adopted by crooks there, who ended up raising her and even using the little girl in capers around the globe. But Tooly understands only fragments of what happened in Thailand, Italy, New York and beyond. Then, a desperate message reaches her musty bookshop in Wales, and she is lured into a journey that will reveal the secret of her childhood. Celebrated for his ingenious plotting, humanity and humor, Tom Rachman has written a novel that will amplify his reputation as one of the most exciting young writers today.
Review
"Ingenious....Rachman needs only a few well-drawn characters to fill a large canvas and an impressive swath of history." Janet Maslin, The New York Times
Review
"A superb follow-up to 2010's The Imperfectionists...ambitious and engaging." The Seattle Times
Review
"Engaging and inventive...full of wonderfully quirky, deeply flawed, but lovable characters....On the spectrum of interesting literary childhoods, Tooly Zylberberg — the protagonist of Tom Rachman's second novel — would rank somewhere in the vicinity of Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"I found it impossible not to fall in love with shape-shifting Tooly. As an adult, she sports an ironical sense of humor and an attraction to dusty old books. As a child, her straight-faced mirth and wordplay are break-your-heart irresistible." Ron Charles, The Washington Post
Review
"[A] read-it-all-in-one-weekend book." The New Republic
Review
"A compelling page-turner...intricate, sprawling, and almost Dickensian." USA Today
About the Author
Tom Rachman was born in London in 1974 and raised in Vancouver. He attended the University of Toronto and Columbia Journalism School, then worked as a journalist for the Associated Press in New York and Rome and for the International Herald Tribune in Paris. His first novel, The Imperfectionists, was an international bestseller, translated into twenty-five languages. He lives in London.
Tom Rachman on PowellsBooks.Blog
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