‘The Talented Miss Farwell’ Is 2020’s Most Memorable Character

The novel is a riveting, worthy tribute to Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley

She thought about Hans Hartung, his deceptive technique — how the slashed and curved lines across the canvas appeared haphazard but were in fact painstakingly considered, arranged. She didn’t linger long here, though, because thinking about art was the least interesting way to experience it. The difference between reading the recipe and spooning in a bite of trembling lemon soufflé.

Becky Farwell lives two lives.

In one, she’s Becky, a hardworking, sharp, brilliant accountant who manages the finances of her small Illinois town. Amid financial crises, political upheaval, and her own private tragedy, Becky keeps the town afloat, to the bemusement and gratitude of its residents. Becky, always capable of shifting some money around to fund a desperately needed project. Becky, with her odd little habits, like insisting on picking up the office mail every day from the post office herself. Becky, who lives alone in the house where her single father raised her.

In another, she’s Reba, a ruthless art collector who will stop at nothing to acquire the pieces she wants — that she needs. Whom schemers in the art world will throw to the wolves and who, in turn, will throw others down into…