Book Review: "The Talented Miss Farwell" by Emily Gray Tedrowe
"The Talented Miss Farwell" by Emily Gray Tedrowe
Synopsis: 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?
Rating: 4.5
Review: I think it’s fairly well-documented on She’s Full of Lit that we enjoy a book about scammers, but what you may not know is that I was an Art History major in college and briefly considered a Masters in Art Business when I was in undergrad and trying to figure out how to be an adult. Naturally, a scammer novel that speaks to a strong woman fleecing people over art greatly appealed to me.
This is the story of Becky Farwell, one of the most charming sociopaths I can ever remember “meeting.” She’s too smart for her life circumstances, and she realizes very quickly that she can get away with a lot — in a way that fulfills her innate need to be the absolute best. Becky’s a math phenom stuck in a dead-end job at city hall when she’s unexpectedly moved by a piece of art. This sets her down a path that ends up with her hometown turned against her, a false identity with much more pizazz (Reba >> Becky), and one of the biggest coups in the art market ever.
We spend almost three decades with Becky, and we mature alongside both her and her embezzlement scheme. It’s a fun trip through the ups and downs of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, told through the vagaries of the art market and the local politics that consume Becky’s real life. It’s a story told in two parts but with one point of view — when Becky is at home, she’s the town CFO with a massive secret, and when she’s outside Pierson, she’s Reba, a sexy, mysteriously funded, and well-connected art collector. And, it’s all connected by her impeccable bookkeeping skills.
I’m not quite sure how Emily Tedrowe pulled it off, but I actually found myself rooting for Becky, even as she was ruining her town. She did feel guilty, and she genuinely believed she would be able to pay it back with “the next big deal” but she was an addict — she loved the rush of the market and acquisitions. And like addicts of other substances, she couldn’t quit until it was too late.
TL;DR: A scammer novel set in the art world that somehow makes accounting suspenseful and architecture sexy — with one of the best female (and most sympathetic) villains I’ve ever seen.
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