Happy Release Day!!
Congratulations Susan
on the release today of
The Curiosities!
The Curiosities by Susan GlossCongratulations Susan
on the release today of
The Curiosities!
Print and e-book, 368 pages
Published February 5th 2019 by William Morrow
The follow-up to Susan Gloss’s successful debut, Vintage, is a charming mid-western story of artists, inspiration, and how to reinvent your life with purpose and flair.
Nell Parker has a PhD in Art History, a loving husband named Josh, and a Craftsman bungalow in Madison, WI. But her last pregnancy ended later in the second trimester, and rather than pausing to grieve, she pushes harder for testing and fertility treatments. Urging Nell to apply for jobs, Josh believes his wife needs something else to focus on other than a baby that may never be.
Finding a job turns out to be difficult for an art historian . . . until Nell sees the ad seeking a director for a new nonprofit called the Mansion Hill Artists’ Colony. The colony is the brainchild of the late, unconventional society dame Betsy Barrett, who left behind her vast fortune and a killer collection of modern art to establish an artist-in-residency program to be run out of her lakeside mansion. The executor of Betsy’s estate simply hands Nell a set of house keys and wishes her luck.
Nell dives into the new role and discovers that while finding artists to fill the three residency slots is easy, managing their eccentric personalities is not. There’s Odin, a young metal sculptor, who keeps the other residents awake with his late-night welding projects. And Annie, a dreadlocked granny known for her gritty photography, whom Nell is almost certain is dealing pot out of the basement “studio.” Lastly, Paige, an art student from the university, takes up residence in the third-floor turret, experimenting with new printing and design techniques, as well as leading a string of bad boyfriends upstairs when she stumbles home late at night.
Despite all the drama, Nell finds something akin to a family among the members of the creative community that she’s brought together. And when her attraction to Odin begins to heat up, Nell is forced to decide what will bring her greater joy—the creative, inspired world she’s created, or the familiar but increasingly fragile one of her marriage.
My thoughts about The Curiosities ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)
First line—"Nell stood atop a stone retaining wall, next to a frozen lake, clutching a shoebox full of the remnants of a dead woman's dreams."
I was immediately captivated and drawn into this story after reading the prologue. What had happened to Nell to get her to the point where her life didn't make sense anymore and she found herself keeping secrets from her husband?
The Curiosities is very well written and I was immediately at ease with the characters and the story. Nell finds herself thrown into the dream of another woman, becoming the director of an artist's colony. It's a way for her to move on with her life. As Nell's life becomes intertwined with the three artists, who are the first residents of the colony, she also discovers a lot about herself.
All three of the artists bring a unique aspect to the overall story-line, each with their own quirky personalities and their own story. It was interesting to learn how they got to this place in their lives. And where they were going to go from here.
The Curiosities is a story that will stay with me as the characters, and their experiences, were very memorable. This was an amazing introduction to a new-to-me author and I'm excited to read more of Susan's stories.
I received The Curiosities via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest opinion.
About the author
Susan Gloss is the author of the novels VINTAGE and THE CURIOSITIES. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in English and Spanish, and the University of Wisconsin Law School. She lives with her family in Madison, Wisconsin. ~ Goodreads
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