The Talented Miss Farwell

Catch Me If You Can meets Patricia Highsmith inthis “stylish” (New York Times Book Review) page-turner of greed andobsession, survival and self-invention that is a piercing character study ofone unforgettable female con artist. At the end of the 1990s, with the art market finallyrecovered from its disastrous collapse, Miss Rebecca Farwell has made a killingat Christie’s in New York City, selling a portion of her extraordinary artcollection for a rumored 900 percent profit. Dressed in couture YSL, drinkingthe finest champagne at trendy Balthazar, Reba, as she’s known, is the pictureof a wealthy art collector. To some, the elusive Miss Farwell is a shark withoutstanding business acumen. To others, she’s a heartless capitalist whose onlyinterest in art is how much she can make.But a thousand miles from the Big Apple, in the small townof Pierson, Illinois, Miss Farwell is someone else entirely—a quiet singlewoman known as Becky who still lives in her family’s farmhouse, wears sensibleshoes, and works tirelessly as the town’s treasurer and controller. No one understands the ins and outs of Pierson’s accountsbetter than Becky; she’s the last one in the office every night, crunching thenumbers. Somehow, her neighbors marvel, she always finds a way to get thestruggling town just a little more money. What Pierson doesn’t see—and cannever discover—is that much of that money is shifted into a separate accountthat she controls, “borrowed” funds used to finance her art habit. Though shequietly repays Pierson when she can, the business of art is cutthroat andunpredictable. But as Reba Farwell’s deals get bigger and bigger, BeckyFarwell’s debt to Pierson spirals out of control. How long can the talentedMiss Farwell continue to pull off her double life?