I was pleased to receive an ARC of The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe in exchange for my honest review. Becky Farwell probably did not plan to become a criminal mastermind and embezzle more than three million dollars from her town, but it was just so easy for her to find opportunities to take advantage of errors and to create a workflow that eliminated the normal checks and balances that should prevent such a crime. She found herself trying to live two lives and needing more and more money to keep up the facade. When we first meet Emily, she is a sympathetic character. She is a sophomore in high school who is gifted in math. Even though her teacher takes a special interest in her, she is forced to give up any ambitions of her own in order to take care of her dad and the failing family business. She has to defer any hopes of college in order to start working to bring in an extra income. She seems to be a hardworking girl who has great potential. When her father dies it seems that the whole town wants to rally around her. When she found a discrepancy during her work, she immediately took the information to Human Resources, but her concerns were dismissed. As she moves up at work, she watches her supervisor engage in ethically compromising “business” meetings with customers who have a vested interest in a contract with the city. She is offered bribes. She sees other adults getting sloppy with receipts and paperwork and it becomes a game to her to see what she can get away with on her own. She begins looking for opportunities with the intention of only taking what she really needs and replacing the funds one day. She is so gifted at moving funds around that she is applauded as a hero for being able to save the day and “find money” for so many worthwhile projects (which helps ease her conscience about what projects and services are denied due to the money she siphoned). Admittedly, it is intriguing to watch Becky build her “Activity” fund by creating false invoices and to set up bank accounts to allow her to maintain total control of the flow of debits and credits. At this point, the reader wonders how no one questions the lack of checks and balances and how she is able to get away with this for so long! Parts of this book were interesting to me because my job includes working with/overseeing finances and I needed to know when/how she finally got caught. While I can appreciate the beauty in art, most of the descriptions of the composition and artwork were lost on me. Becky/Reba was obviously addicted to the chance to create herself and become a major player in the art scene. She enjoyed the high of finding emerging artists and completing her collections. She gained more confidence in making the big deals even if she used people and betrayed friendships along the way. She spent a fortune gaining access to the big leagues (which is admittedly, beyond anything I can imagine). Most reviewers would agree that Becky seemed to truly lack empathy on how any of her actions impacted other people. We wanted/needed her to get caught. Even though I knew this was based on a true story, I struggled with the plot including the logistics of the travel and time off work. Was no one suspicious of all the time she missed? How did people not recognize her? How did she not get caught in all her lies? Overall, this book was a solid three for me. Not my favorite, but I did finish. I would be interested in hearing more from the author about the real person and inspiration for this story.

The Talented Miss Farwell tells the story of a young, talented woman that excels in running the financials of a small town in Illinois. She becomes obsessed with art and figures out a way to finance her art obsession with money “borrowed” from city accounts. In the beginning she is able to pay back the money, but as her obsession grows, her borrowing becomes embezzling and spirals out of control. It is amazing, but this book is based on a true story. I enjoyed the book and the rising suspense on if/how she would be caught. The book seemed to drag in many areas that could have been condensed. Becky/Reba characterization needed some work to get the reader to root for her. Thanks to HarperCollins Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and submit an unbiased review.

I really liked this book. I enjoyed the format of each chapter being a year. The story, even to the end was great. I really wanted this book to be about 50 pages longer to fill in some of the gaps. It left me wanting to know more about Becky's motivations. I would have loved to have seen more of Reba's glamorous life. Overall, a solid read that I would recommend.

Oh, Miss Farwell! The delicious tension in this story! The duplicity of the main character and the desire of most people to see the best in others forms the bedrock of this story. That Miss Farwell (Becky to her friends, Reba in her secret life) finds a way to perpetuate her dual life leaves the reader on edge. Ms. Tedrowe is the talented one here.

Loved the melding of genres that happened in this engaging thriller! It pulled me in and I remained gripped through the hole ride. I think the accounting pieces are done in a way to make them interesting, but acknowledge as an accountant, my bias might be showing. Definitely work a try for anyone who likes a good con story.

This novel is well written, but it started out a bit too slow for me. I wanted to jump into the action of Miss Farwell's dangerous game, but instead the book went more in chronological order, which took a while to pick up.

For me this book was exciting because I am in the art world and I have never seen a book proposed like this and I ate it up because it mentioned works that I have studied and I know details about it.

Though for someone that isn’t in the art world I wouldn’t count this as a thriller or very exciting. It’s a mundane look of someone dealing Art and trying not to get caught. There is a thrill for the character but for the reader you know what is going to happen eventually. Everytime she almost gets caught it’s even toned and it doesn’t feel thrilling or make you anxious, you read on to see if this is the time someone finally is going to notice.

Becky and Reba are the same person leading two totally different lives. Becky works at the small town treasury and is great at math. She learns quickly how to skim money off the top and setup different accounts to deposit the money into. Reba starts with turning a couple of paintings for profits but then gets addicted to the art dealing lifestyle. She leads the double life for years and I kept wondering how she didn’t get caught. Great premise for a story but the characters were a little flat.

Thank you Netgalley for the copy in exchange for a review. The thoughts are my own.

One of the most addictive books I’ve read all year.

The talented Miss Farwell reads like a mix of an uber-complex heist/financial scam novel blended with a love letter (well, perhaps a love/hate letter) to the art world of the 1980s.

For me, this was the ultimate page-turner of 2020. I found myself staying up well past bedtime to read and sneaking in a chapter anytime I had 10 minutes to spare.

Becky is a fascinating protagonist, a tragically flawed heroine of sorts. Or is she an anti-hero?

One of the most interesting parts of the book is how we as readers ultimately assess Becky’s character. She was a liar, a thief, and at times, a pretty terrible person. But she was also exceptionally smart, hard working, and generous to those she loved, including the town she was essentially robbing.

The complex plan Becky concocts to divert city funds in order to finance her budding career as an art dealer and collector is riveting. Watching the tangled plot unfold as Becky gets better and better at what she does is captivating. Equally enthralling is watching the whole thing slowly unravel.

Though paced like a romp, this is sharp, smart story. The ending made me sad, but it’s also the only way this particular story could have concluded.

Love, love, loved this book.

Very much enjoyed this story. Both sympathized and was angry with the main character. She was very smart but conniving with her transactions from the “activity “ to cover her art addiction. And it was an addiction. Her eye and instinct for art was spot on but unfortunately she could only finance her investments through her fraudulent use of her town’s funds. I think she truly meant to pay it all back but every time there was another temptation in the art world. She was really a lonely person and her only real relationships after her father’s death were with her friend Ingrid and maybe to a lesser extent her work relationship with the mayor. Overall it was an interesting and different read.

While I finished the book, I am finding that I can't get it out of my head. I think it is because I have a hard time deciding whether or not I like the main character. I'm not sure if I entirely empathized with her, but I can appreciate how her circumstances shaped her and can follow her motivations through her demise. I didn't want to like her...she is self absorbed, and is embezzling from her town, but at the same time I kept worrying about her getting caught. She's clever and determined, a self made person. I like that a lot, especially given her childhood and need to grow up quickly. But the town she "loves" is suffering on account of her art addiction. Her "friends" don't get any genuine time/attention from her. The positive things she does are tainted by her greed. Her drivers are complicated, but in the end she is overcome by greed and addiction. I expect the main character will be divisive to audiences...some will hate her, some will not be sure. That makes for a well thought out character. So thank you to the author for making her appear straightforward, yet still controversial. I liked that.

The story itself was interesting, especially given that it is actually based on a true story. That always makes the story more interesting to me. But it was a little too easy for this character to embezzle from her town for so long. I wanted more close calls with getting caught to keep it more suspenseful. I didn't like it being easy because it felt more like she was just taking advantage of people, like taking candy from a baby or winning a game by mercy rule...there's no fun in that.

Thank you to Harper Collins for the complimentary copy through NetGalley

Becky/Reba is a complicated character. A small town math wiz who works in the town hall, and also a ruthless art investor. She loves her small Illinois town, and would do anything to help her community. At the same time, she is embezzling money to pay for her art addiction and driving the town into bankruptcy.

The story was interesting , but also a little predictable. As the story progresses, you realize that at some point Becky’s “Activity” will all come crashing down.

I enjoyed the book,.

Thank you Netgalley, Emily Gray Tedrowe and Harper Collins for the ARC.

QUICK TAKE: I don’t know about you, but #TheTalentedMrRipley is one of my favorite movies, as I’m a huge fan of stories about people with secret identities and ulterior motives climbing the high-society ladder. So when my friends at @customhousebooks asked if I would be interested in #TheTalentedMissFarwell by @egtedrowe (love a talented stranger!), a book about a small town con woman who takes advantage of her position in municipal government to launch herself into the wealthy and cosmopolitan art scene, well…consider me an auction item at Sotheby’s, because I.was.SOLD (I should probably stop reviewing books after having a glass of wine).⁣
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The book is so twisty and fun and escapist and I flew through it in an afternoon. The eponymous Miss Farwell is a fabulously complex and complicated con woman with a heart of gold; she spends most of the book balancing her love for her community with her obsession for art that you don’t know whether to root for her success or demise. I think fans of #ABeautifulCrime and #CatchMeIfYouCan and the Hugh Jackman HBO movie #BadEducation will really dig this one (it’s actually based on a true story!).

2.5. I don't really see the parallels between The Talented Mr. Ripley and this book. The titular Miss Farwell (Becky) doesn't have any of the charisma or social graces of Mr. Ripley; she bumbles her way through the art scene as she acquires her pieces using stolen Town Hall funds.

For a story about crime, I found the plot a little boring; Tedrowe focuses a lot on the minutiae of moving money from one account to the other, and it was less clear on how Becky actually managed to acquire all of her pieces. I also didn't feel like I got to know Becky as a person besides her awkwardness and her sense of loyalty to her family and friends, which is a shame. By the time I reached the end of the book, I felt little in the way of empathy for Becky, nor was I invested in whether she got caught or not.

Becky Farwell is a bright young woman who learned to take charge when at an early age. Her mother died when she was young and she took care of the house and quickly learned how to turn around her father's failing business, which she basically ran up until his death. Her father had no business sense but, Becky had it all. By most standards Becky's life is rather boring, a loner who worked too much and played too little. She does develop a fine appreciation for art after picking up a piece at an estate sale that she absolutely adores and, then as if a lightbulb goes off in her head, a new focus.

After her father's death she continues to live in the family home in Pierson, Illinois. She gets a job in accounting at Town Hall at the age of 19 and is quickly promoted to Assistant Comptroller and then Comptroller by the age of 23 - her superiors have so much confidence in her take charge attitude and abilities that she has almost no oversight. Her outside interest continues to be art and she learns all she can about the art scene, galleries and art shows. On weekends she heads to Chicago to immerse herself in the art scene. There she meets a man named Mac who shows her the rope and even suggests she go by the name of Reba. Becky (Reba) begins to dress the part, even renting a pricey condo for her weekend art escapes. Unfortunately, this dual lifestyle all costs money, lots of money but the bright, resourceful Becky figures a way to get what she wants even though the scheme she comes up with. Embezzlement, however, is a crime.

Becky (Reba) is an unlikeable character yet, I was pulled in by just how cunning this young woman was and how her criminal mind worked. It was fascinating to see how her art obsession took over rational thinking. I did find it hard to imagine her pulling off this double life: CFO by day and the high states domestic and even sometimes international art fancier on weekends.

The Talented Miss Farwell is a clever work of crime fiction loosely based on a true story. Although this one starts off a bit slow, I enjoyed the story quite a bit. Becky was a brilliant con artist, master of deceit who found a way to skim money off the government to support her obsession.

https://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-talented-miss-farwell-emily-gray.html

I chose this book because it sounded like it might be interesting. Then I started reading and thought, "I don't really care about the characters or the town or the plot, so what am I doing?" It was a slow, somewhat boring beginning. And then, about a quarter of the way in, I realized that I wanted to read this, wanted to know what was going to happen, even though I kind of knew where it would go.

This is the story of Becky Farwell, a smart woman from a small mid-west town, who finds herself drawn to fine art. That initial infatuation turns into an obsession that she feeds with funds stolen from the town's coffers. We follow Becky from her hometown to Chicago to New York City and back again while she tries to cover her many tracks.

My thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Becky Falwell begins working for the town of Pierson, Illinois while still in High School. Misrepresenting her age to secure the position and while running her fathers farm supply business. Becky and her abilities are amazing getting her recognized by many. She tries to fly under the radar but develops a talent for catching other people's errors and capitalize on them. Miss Falwell develops a love for the art world and thus develops a double life. This double life is manageable for the "talented Miss Falwell" until she starts losing her grip or trying to have too much of a grip on everthing.....having it all might lead to her undoing!

Combining the sharp ingenuity of Sherlock Holmes and the bad-girl attitude of a classic literary femme fatale, THE TALENTED MISS FARWELL by Emily Gray Tedrowe is a fast-paced and compulsively readable novel, a magnetic character study about one unforgettable woman.

The year is 1979, and 14-year-old Becky Farwell is already years ahead of her peers and neighbors. She takes advanced math courses, writes essays for her classmates in exchange for money and cosmetics, and is the brains behind her father’s small business. Although she is young and still has a lot to learn, it is clear that she is someone to root for.

Jumping ahead year by year, Tedrowe tracks Becky and her father as they grow their business, bump elbows with the town elite, and manage to do a complete 180 on their luck and finances. But Becky yearns for more. Already working in the town hall as a bookkeeper at 17, she is known for her ability to catch mistakes, find money where there once was none, and keep her superiors on their toes. Her can-do attitude soon finds her rising in the ranks, but she is still constrained by the time: her male colleagues don’t want a woman correcting them any more than they want their careless spending on client dinners and group outings recorded by the powers that be. So Becky learns to keep her head down and her findings quiet. So quiet, in fact, that no one notices when she begins diverting extra funds into her own wallet.

Although Becky comes from humble beginnings, she knows all about style and nobility, and has a definite taste for the finer things in life: the perfect lipstick, the right pair of jeans and even fine art. Beginning with the purchase of one meagerly priced $540 painting, she finds herself obsessed with the chase of art --- knowing the artist, the medium and the dealer --- and her ability to make a quick buck by buying high-priced pieces and reselling them. While her hobby is (secretly) sponsored by the town of Pierson, Illinois, she always puts back what she takes using her profits. Until she doesn’t.

After connecting with Mac, an art collector in Chicago, Becky starts living an expensive double life. At first, she just joins in on Mac’s parties and shopping sprees, but as she begins to learn the scene and form bonds with the big players, she racks up her own impressive collection. And once you have a collection, you need a place to display it. Splitting time between her father’s rundown home in Pierson and a swanky apartment in Chicago, Becky becomes a real-life con artist, spending hours in Pierson’s town hall basement to find places where accounts were incorrectly tallied, checks were forgotten and the good people of Pierson were simply too trusting. But as she racks up greater and greater debts, Pierson finds a new mayor and her “activity” comes dangerously close to being revealed. Is it too late for Becky to repay the town that has shepherded and loved her, or has she become too cutthroat and intoxicated by her newfound power?

THE TALENTED MISS FARWELL is an absolute hoot. Becky Farwell is the protagonist readers dream of: charming, brilliant and just bad enough to be completely electrifying. We know from the first page that she is naturally intelligent, yet what I loved most about her journey was how clearly Tedrowe laid out her process with every reinvention. When Becky first tries her hand at the art scene, she makes a humiliating snafu. But rather than sending her home packing, it is this mistake (and Mac’s help) that turns her into an absolute scholar, of both the art world and the capitalistic dark side. Her devotion to her craft is as awe-inspiring as it is terrifying --- you’ll be tempted to check your own wallet as you read to make sure that she hasn't charmed you out of house and home. Deliciously wicked, yet a perfect example of someone you want to root for, Tedrowe’s heroine is jaw-droppingly shameless and exultant.

Her main character alone is more than enough to make me recommend this novel, but Tedrowe succeeds in so much more than crafting the perfect protagonist. While we know without a doubt that Becky is in the wrong the very first time that she skims from the town accounts, there is a sense of justice in her actions --- a real “sticking it to the man” attitude. The hedonism and the sense of order to this is just as intoxicating for the reader as it is for Becky. In fact, we are so entranced by her inventiveness and greed that, much like Becky, we forget until far too late that there are townsfolk who will suffer from her theft. In one particularly poignant scene, a local man screams at Becky as businesses go under and the town festival is canceled, always with the excuse that there is “no money in the budget.” Coming from Becky, the town’s best girl, this is inexcusable. “You said fall…. We’ve waited. Now it’s goddamn fall!” the man yells, bringing into harsh relief the damage Becky has really done.

I won’t spoil the ending by revealing Becky Farwell’s last reinvention, but I can promise that it is every bit as satisfying as the very first scene of this remarkable book --- and every scene in between, too. Tedrowe has crafted an unforgettable heroine living in an unforgettable time, and her use of art and capitalism is as educational as it is plain fun to read. Perfect for readers of THE ASSISTANTS and Patricia Highsmith, THE TALENTED MISS FARWELL is a rip-roaring journey through greed, obsession and reinvention.

This was a roller coaster from beginning to end and I was captivated! Small town girl does everything for her father - to support him and care for him. She is so smart. She eventually gets into finance and learns how to cook the books. This book is a travel down the path of how far into it she gets. Well written. Highly recommend. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Rebecca Farwell grew up in the town of Pierson, Illinois. She lost her mom at a young and helped her father keep his business from failing as a high schooler. Becky, as she is known, was a whiz with mathematical concepts and could have gone to college. But she felt obligated to stay in Pierson and help her father. Becky takes a job at the town hall. She is good at each and every job she has but one unallocated check for $542 sets in motion Becky's obsession with art.

To the art collector world she is known as Reba Farwell. She has an eye for art and and incredible skills at acquisition, negotiation, and sales. She wheels and deals with art collectors from all around the world. Unfortunately, she continues to play with Pierson tax money.

How long will Ms. Farwell be able to keep the farse up in both her lives? Will she be cuaght? What will be her undoing? Will someone else go down for her actions? These are just some of the questions you will ask yourself as you read this enthralling book.

Thank you HarperCollins and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.