Published by HarperCollins on February 5, 2019
Genres: Fiction, Women, Family Life, General, Marriage & Divorce
Pages: 368
Format: eBook
Source: ARC
Goodreads
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, leaving her to manage the mansion and the eccentric personalities of the artists who live there on her own.
Soon one of the artists, a young metal sculptor named Odin, is keeping the other residents awake with his late-night welding projects. Nell is pretty sure that Annie, a dreadlocked granny known for her avant garde performance pieces, is dealing drugs out of the basement "studio." Meanwhile 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.
A study of loss and grief, healing and joy, The Curiosities by Susan Gloss was a stunning tapestry. Separate stories are woven together to show different character and their struggles and how their stories intersect as three artists come to reside at the newly formed artist colony run by Nell after the benefactor, Betsy, passes away. Gloss introduces characters who proved themselves to be delightfully flawed and genuine. Each of the characters was from a different background or stage in life and yet they came together into familial unit thanks to the artist colony and Betsy’s legacy.
Readers are exposed to Nell’s profound grief after she is informed that the latest round of IVF didn’t work. After losing their daughter early in her pregnancy, Nell’s life has revolved around her grief and the dream of having a child with her husband. The stark, raw feelings described by Gloss with Nell’s voice was heart-wrenching. Nell’s relationship with her husband has slowly started to dwindle, especially once she starts hiding the mounting debt related to the three failed rounds of IVF. Debt looming, Nell decides to enter the workforce and secures a job directing an artist residence established by the late Elizabeth “Betsy” Barrett.
Betsy, the founder of the artist colony, was by far my favorite character. I adored the flashbacks that introduced readers to snippets of her very full life and would be perfectly happy to read solely about her life and travels. I admired her commitment to living life for herself and not folding into the stereotypical wife role of the time (homemaker and children).
Gloss included immense growth in her characters, but I was a little disappointed in the growth of Odin. We see it reflected in his work during the joint art show but I missed the growth that proceeds the light bulb moment that I detected in the other characters. This may be a sign that I didn’t really connect with his character.
Ultimately, I felt content when the book came to a close. Everything felt wrapped up and even hopeful for all of the characters that stumbled their way through their own trials and tribulations. I highly recommend other readers delve into this emotional story. You won’t be disappointed. As for me, I will be moving Susan Gloss’s book Vintage onto my ever-growing TBR pile.
*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
About Susan Gloss
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.
