Starred review from November 2, 2020
In Schwarz’s superb sophomore novel (after The Possible World), an American family’s young boy goes missing in Thailand and resurfaces decades later. During the Vietnam War, Robert Preston works as a spy for the U.S. government and moves his family to Bangkok in 1972 under the pretense that he’s designing a dam. His resentful wife, Genevieve, begins an affair, and after their youngest child, Philip, disappears, the Prestons return to America with their other two daughters. All except Genevieve assume he’s dead, and Genevieve repeatedly returns to search for him. Forty-seven years later, Bea is aghast when her younger sister, Laura, travels to Bangkok in hopes of retrieving Philip, having received an email from a man who claims to have found him. The question of whether the man Laura returns with is their brother remains open for much of the book. The sisters are reluctant to press Philip for details about his disappearance and wonder how to break the news to Genevieve, who now has dementia. Schwarz is a remarkable storyteller, juggling many characters, and the seamless alternating chapters narrated by Laura and a servant from the Preston’s house in Bangkok gradually deepen the reader’s understanding of the past and present. Schwarz’s stellar work is riveting from its start all the way to the final horrifying twist.
November 15, 2020
When a missing son and brother is found after more than 40 years, a family must confront the secrets that shaped their lives for decades. In 1972, Robert and Genevieve Preston are living in Bangkok with their three young children and are eager to move back to the U.S. after four years away. But one August evening in the heat of summer, their 8-year-old son, Philip, doesn't come home from judo lessons, sending the family into an unsuccessful frenzy to find him before leaving the country. Four decades later, Laura, the youngest Preston sibling, is a successful artist living in D.C., close to her domineering older sister and aging mother, her life filled by the continuing series of work she's producing and the routine of her long-term relationship. But when she receives an email from someone claiming to have found her brother, Laura upends her life to go to Thailand to see if the man who resembles her father is who he says he is--and what happened to him all those years ago. Bouncing between modern-day D.C. and 1970s Bangkok, the novel is grounded in its deeply realized characters and the relationships among them, but the author layers in a consideration of power dynamics, racism, and privilege in a way that adds an undercurrent of realism and ugliness, particularly regarding the way the Prestons lived in the '70s. At the same time, the book is a gripping mystery that subtly ratchets up the tension with each chapter. A richly imagined page-turner that delivers twists alongside thought-provoking commentary.
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January 1, 2021
A family is shattered by lies, secrets, and an abduction in this family drama. The Prestons moved to Bangkok in 1970 so that Robert could work for an NGO constructing a dam, while Genevieve could play hostess and raise their three perfect children, Bea, Philip, and Laura. Then, one day in 1972, Philip disappears from his judo practice and is never seen again. Now, almost 40 years later, Laura receives a mysterious email--""I believe I have found your brother Philip."" But is it really him? Bea doesn't think so, and their mother's dementia is too advanced to make her reliable. Laura cannot shake the hope and travels to Bangkok to meet the man she has become convinced is her brother. But what really happened all those years ago? Schwarz reveals all in compelling, ""can't put it down"" prose while at the same time building masterfully developed characters who each had a part to play in past events. Though not graphic, there are scenes of child sexual abuse. For fans of Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate (2017).
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