Close this alert
The Gravity of Birds: A Novel
Current price:
$15.99
Publication Date: July 1st, 2014
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster
ISBN:
9781451689778
Pages:
320
Usually Ships in 3 to 8 Days
The story begins at a lake retreat in New York state. Thomas Bayber, a young artist with great promise meets the Kessler family. The two teenage daughters, Alice and Natalie are enamored by Thomas. Jealousy unalterably affects the lives of all three of these characters for the next forty years. In those years Thomas becomes famous. Alice and Natalie disappear. Thomas informs his friend, an art professor, Dennis Finch that there is one more painting he had done that had never been shown. Stephen Jameson, an art authenticator is enlisted to help them find the missing artwork, but they must first find Alice and Natalie. The reader slowly becomes aware of the connecting threads that bind all of these characters together in the past as well as the present leading to a surprising conclusion. It was a very well written love story mystery tinged with the sadness of what might have been. Thoroughly enjoyable!
August 2013 Indie Next List
Description
A debut novel already destined to be a book club favorite. “With its deft interweaving of psychological complexity and riveting narrative momentum, with its gorgeous prose and poetic justice, The Gravity of Birds is about sibling rivalry, tragedies, and resurrections. And it’s irresistibly exquisite” (San Francisco Chronicle).
Forty-four years after the brilliant young painter, Thomas Bayber, first meets Alice and Natalie Kessler, Bayber unveils a never-before-seen work, Kessler Sisters—a provocative painting depicting the young Thomas, Alice, and Natalie. Bayber asks Dennis Finch, an art history professor, and Stephen Jameson, an eccentric young art authenticator, to sell the painting. But their task becomes more complicated when the artist requires that they first locate Alice and Natalie, who seem to have disappeared.
Told in alternating chapters that weave revelations about the sisters’ past with clues Finch and Jameson discover in the present, this story sets three characters on a collision course with their histories, showing how families tear themselves apart and then try to bind themselves together again, not always creating the same fabric. The Gravity of Birds “combines the drama of warring sisters, the mystery of a missing painting, and the sorrow of lost love into a haunting elegy that will…leave you breathless” (Tiffany Baker, author of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County).
Praise for The Gravity of Birds: A Novel
"If literary fiction is on the verge of extinction . . . Tracy Guzeman's The Gravity of Birds ought to inspire new hope for an endangered species. With its deft interweaving of psychological complexity and riveting narrative momentum, with its gorgeous prose and poetic justice, Guzeman's book is about sibling rivalry, tragedies, and resurrections. And it's irresistibly exquisite."
— San Francisco Chronicle
"The captivating prose of Tracy Guzeman’s first novel instantly pulls you into the lives of the Kessler sisters, Alice and Natalie, and their intertwined love story with Thomas Bayber, an attractive young artist. Forty years later, as Bayber lies dying, he sends two trusted, but disparate, colleagues to find a missing painting that the Kessler sisters possess. Clandestine love affairs, painterly clues and a world of untruths come seamlessly together in this exceptional debut."
— Minneapolis Star Tribune
"In this richly textured novel, two young sisters encounter art and their sensuality under the watchful gaze of a seductive painter. Forty-four years later, when a never-before-seen portrait of them is unveiled, a complex web of jealousy and heartache is exposed."
— O, The Oprah Magazine
"In this riveting debut novel, a famous artist-recluse unveils a 40-year-old painting never shown before, then sends collectors on a scavenger hunt to locate two teenage girls who posed for him, but disappeared decades ago."
— Good Housekeeping
“A compelling debut . . . This book is about details and secrets—and possessing the perceptiveness to notice how details can reveal secrets. . . . Guzeman creates flesh-and-blood characters that readers come to care about.”
— Cleveland Plain Dealer
"The deep waters of family secrets contribute to the atmosphere of intrigue."
— San Jose Mercury News
"Talented . . . incredibly assured . . . her cast of endearing eccentrics and her stellar prose will win a loyal audience."
— Booklist
“[The Gravity of Birds] exhibits, particularly in characterization and dialogue, glimmers of genius.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“A lovely, mesmerizing novel. The Gravity of Birds combines the drama of warring sisters, the mystery of a missing painting, and the sorrow of lost love into a haunting elegy that will, like the artwork it describes, leave you breathless. The paintings and characters that Tracy Guzeman creates will seep into your imagination and take up permanent residence, changing the way you think about art.”
— Tiffany Baker, author of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County and The Gilly Salt Sisters
“Lovely! The Gravity of Birds is a warm-hearted, assured, and haunting debut. In prose that is always graceful and often breathtaking, Tracy Guzeman delivers a compelling story of the love of art, and the art of love.”
— Meg Waite Clayton, author of the national bestseller The Wednesday Sisters
"The Gravity of Birds is one of those rare, exquisitely written novels that haunt you long after you've finished the last page. Guzeman writes of both the fragility of the human spirit and its inner strength. The book unfurls like a hidden canvas, soaked with color, emotional longing, and a desire to make sense of what is often too painful to be said without the assistance of art. It is a novel not to be missed."
— Alyson Richman, best-selling author of The Lost Wife
“Tracy Guzeman’s The Gravity of Birds is part mystery, part psychological drama and intriguing love story. This is a stunning debut. It’s a brilliant tale, written in evocative language, and every page is pure seduction. I want to scream from the rooftops: read this book!”
— Ellen Sussman
