South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
A murky past in Florida-set ‘Marsh Queen’; ‘Fake’ a genuine art world mystery
Virginia Hartman plunges into a well-plotted debut with “The Marsh Queen,” delving into family issues, reconciling with one’s past, and the beauty of birds amid the lushness of Florida backroads, swamps and waterways.
During the course an eight-week leave of absence for a family emergency, Smithsonian bird artist Loni Murrow will come to terms with her father’s death when she was 12 years old, her mother’s looming dementia and her ennui from being back in her small hometown.
Loni still remembers the morning that her father, Boyd, a fish and game officer, left their home on the edge of a marsh just outside the Panhandle town of Tenetkee. He died later that day in what was officially called a boating accident but more likely was a suicide.
Loni adored her father and still is unable to fathom why he would leave her, his much-loved wife, Ruth, and his 6-month-old son, Phil. Now, 25 years later, Phil needs her to come home to help with their mother who has broken her wrist and may need to move into assisted living.
Going through her mother’s possessions brings
Loni a flood of memories, especially of how her father died, further prompted by a letter found at Ruth’s house. But those who knew Boyd are either reticent to discuss him, or frightened. An escalating series of vandalisms is aimed at forcing Loni back to Washington.
“The Marsh Queen” poignantly touches on the idea of how little we know
‘The Marsh Queen’
By Virginia Hartman. Gallery, 384 pages, $27
‘Fake’
By Erica Katz. Harper, 309 pages, $26.99
about our parents’ lives before they had children, and how lives and people, are complicated. “Double edged,” says Loni, remembering how “a difficult grandmother led . . . to a career [she loved.]” Her own “small-minded prejudice” leads her to assume a kind man who works with his hands is uneducated. “The Marsh Queen” also deftly explores nature through the herbs Ruth grew, the birds Loni draws and the Florida waterways.
Readers will look forward to more novels about Loni, and Hartman’s elevated view of Florida. “The Marsh Queen” is a solid beginning.
Meet the author
Virginia Hartman will discuss “The Marsh Queen” at 6 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Palm Beach Book Store, 215 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach, 561-659-6700, thepalmbeachbookstore. com.
Hartman also will be among the authors at the Miami Book Fair, miamibookfair.com. Hartman will be on a panel about Florida mysteries with Sascha Rothchild, “Blood Sugar,” and Deb Rogers, “Florida Woman,” at 4 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Miami Dade College / Wolfson Campus, Building 8, Second Floor, Room 8202.
The real deal
While art work conjures beauty and creativity, it can also lead to fraud, forgeries, money laundering and other schemes, providing a decisive background for a young woman at a career crossroads in Erica Katz’s constantly accelerating “Fake.”
Katz’s second novel works well as a story about passion for one’s work, stalled dreams and finding one’s mettle.
Emma Caan has long wanted to be a serious artist, the kind whose work is sought after by prestigious galleries and museums. But her paintings were called “unexceptional. Technically superior. Emotionally detached,” by her Yale professor.
Instead, she transferred her skills into making pristine copies of works by masters. Her brushstroke-perfect replicas are difficult to tell from the originals, earning her a reputation as a sought-after copier. These precise replicas are not forgeries, never meant to be passed off as the originals. And they are legal, as Emma prudently signs the back of each canvas with her name, the title of the artwork and the date she finished using permanent ink.
The clients for the company for which she works, Manhattan’s Gemini Reproductions, include private owners who keep their originals hidden to thwart thieves or damage, and museums that need a stand-in while the masterpiece is being cleaned or repaired.
Billionaire Leonard Sobetsky, one of Gemini’s biggest clients who constantly asks for Emma, makes her an offer. He will help her become assistant director at an illustrious gallery if she will exclusively freelance for him on the side, making her exquisite copies. Within two weeks, Emma is attending art society parties, meeting influencers and flying on Leonard’s private jet to a Hong Kong art fair where she will broker sales in the millions. Leonard also arranges an upscale apartment for Emma where she can work and live in comfort.
Emma is in love with her new life and can’t believe her good luck, having gone from a tiny apartment she could barely afford and ramen to luxury and caviar.
Katz skillfully shows how intoxicating is the life Leonard and his friends lead, and how Emma can very easily be swept up into this strata of society — “salivating at the possibility of a different life at just the whiff of one.”
Leonard’s world seems legitimate and Emma has no reason to doubt what she sees. But Katz immediately shows a shady sign as “Fake” begins with Emma being interrogated by the FBI. Subsequent interviews start most chapters.
The briskly plotted “Fake” is driven by Emma’s personality, that thrill of being creative and why art motivates her. “Life’s complicated,” one character tells Emma. “That’s why we have art. To help us make sense of it.” A subplot gives “Fake” context, showing Emma’s dysfunctional upbringing, especially her relationship with her cheating, emotionally remote father, who recently died.
“Fake” is a genuine piece of superior storytelling.
Meet the authors
Erica Katz will discuss “Fake” and Lisa Barr will discuss “Woman on Fire,” both diving into the dark side of the art world, with moderator Oline H. Cogdill beginning at 10 a.m. Nov. 2 at the Mandel Jewish Community Center, 8500 Jog Road, Boynton Beach. Cost is $18. Visit JCConline.com/artsandculture to register.
Oline H. Cogdill can be reached at olinecog@aol. com.