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Forgers #2
The Forger's Daughter
When a scream shatters the summer night outside their country house, reformed literary forger Will and his wife Meghan find their daughter Maisie shaken and bloodied, holding a parcel her attacker demanded she present to her father. Inside is a literary rarity the likes of which few have ever handled, and a letter laying out impossible demands regarding its future.
After twenty years of living life on the straight and narrow, Will finds himself drawn back to forgery, ensnared in a plot to counterfeit the rarest book in American literature: Edgar Allan Poe’s first, Tamerlane, of which only a dozen copies are known to have survived. Until now. Facing threats to his life and family, coerced by his former nemesis and fellow forger, Will must rely on the artistic skills of his older daughter Nicole to help create a flawless forgery of this stolen Tamerlane, the Holy Grail of American letters.
After twenty years of living life on the straight and narrow, Will finds himself drawn back to forgery, ensnared in a plot to counterfeit the rarest book in American literature: Edgar Allan Poe’s first, Tamerlane, of which only a dozen copies are known to have survived. Until now. Facing threats to his life and family, coerced by his former nemesis and fellow forger, Will must rely on the artistic skills of his older daughter Nicole to help create a flawless forgery of this stolen Tamerlane, the Holy Grail of American letters.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 2020
151 people are currently reading
2578 people want to read
About the author
Bradford Morrow
149 books248 followersBradford Morrow has lived for the past thirty years in New York City and rural upstate New York, though he grew up in Colorado and lived and worked in a variety of places in between. While in his mid-teens, he traveled through rural Honduras as a member of the Amigos de las Americas program, serving as a medical volunteer in the summer of 1967. The following year he was awarded an American Field Service scholarship to finish his last year of high school as a foreign exchange student at a Liceo Scientifico in Cuneo, Italy. In 1973, he took time off from studying at the University of Colorado to live in Paris for a year. After doing graduate work on a Danforth Fellowship at Yale University, he moved to Santa Barbara, California, to work as a rare book dealer. In 1981 he relocated to New York City to the literary journal Conjunctions, which he founded with the poet Kenneth Rexroth, and to write novels. He and his two cats divide their time between NYC and upstate New York.
Visit his website at www.bradfordmorrow.com.
Visit his website at www.bradfordmorrow.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 163 reviews
February 28, 2021
The Forger's Daughter is author Bradford Morrow's sequel to The Forger's, a story of antiquarian book forging. The sequel finds Will, the protagonist of The Forgers, his wife Meg and two daughters, living a fairly quiet life. They spend their down time in a cottage in upstate New York but reside in Manhattan.
Will, a reformed forger, is now a printer and his wife Meg is the owner of a renowned NYC bookstore that specializes in rare and antique books.
Twenty-something Nicole is an artist and a talented calligrapher. At an early age she learned calligraphy from her father and has now perfected the art form.
Eleven year old Maise is their adopted carefree daughter who loves to play and ride bikes.
Unexpectedly, Will and his forging past come face to face with his old nemesis, Henry Slader. Slader is a man he hoped never to see again and is now blackmailing Will into forging a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's, "Tamerlane." Tamerlane was the title of a poem by Poe published in 1827 and according to varied sources, it is believed that there are only 12 copies of it in existence.
Nicole, Will's daughter, becomes the Forger's daughter. In a highly irregular father-daughter bonding experience, Nicole and Will have to work together to recreate this rare work of antiquity or suffer the consequences.
Morrow gives the reader a great deal of historical information about Poe and Tamerlane, one of his lesser but great works.
This literary thriller doesn't require a love of antique books but you must love long, lengthy sentences and a book that drags throughout to see the Forger's Daughter to the finish.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. #NetGalley #TheForgersDaughter
Will, a reformed forger, is now a printer and his wife Meg is the owner of a renowned NYC bookstore that specializes in rare and antique books.
Twenty-something Nicole is an artist and a talented calligrapher. At an early age she learned calligraphy from her father and has now perfected the art form.
Eleven year old Maise is their adopted carefree daughter who loves to play and ride bikes.
Unexpectedly, Will and his forging past come face to face with his old nemesis, Henry Slader. Slader is a man he hoped never to see again and is now blackmailing Will into forging a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's, "Tamerlane." Tamerlane was the title of a poem by Poe published in 1827 and according to varied sources, it is believed that there are only 12 copies of it in existence.
Nicole, Will's daughter, becomes the Forger's daughter. In a highly irregular father-daughter bonding experience, Nicole and Will have to work together to recreate this rare work of antiquity or suffer the consequences.
Morrow gives the reader a great deal of historical information about Poe and Tamerlane, one of his lesser but great works.
This literary thriller doesn't require a love of antique books but you must love long, lengthy sentences and a book that drags throughout to see the Forger's Daughter to the finish.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. #NetGalley #TheForgersDaughter
September 16, 2020
3.5 / 5.0 stars
This sequel to Bradford Morrow's, "The Forgers" is a thought-provoking tale of antiquarian book forging, a failed attempt of breaking free from one's criminal past, and of a tortured soul conflicted between a desire to to stay clean yet also desiring to protect his family from great harm. It's a story of many secrets where every character has them or may even be one. The writing is superlative. It displays the author's love for the written word as well as his ability to paint well the landscape of place as well as that of the mind. The book is part mystery, part psychological thriller and has a fair amount of historical and technical detail related to the fine art of forging historic documents. It also speaks well to the involved process of assessing provenance of historical masterworks from which the forgeries are made. The vast amount of research gathered for this story is most evident and handily shared throughout the book.
A bit about the story -
After twenty years of living a crime-free life, our protagonist and former forger, Will, is coerced, if not blackmailed into creating an exact replica of Edgar Allen Poe's rare imprint of his first book, "Tamerlane". The person seemingly behind this distasteful plan is an old "colleague" of Will's from his former life, with a bit of an axe to grind, who claims to hold damning evidence of a horrific crime perpetrated by Will. What choice does Will have but to do as told and hopefully place this scoundrel in his rear-view mirror for good. To complete the forgery, Will must draw upon the burgeoning artistic talents of his twenty-something-year-old daughter, Nicole. She is as gifted as her father if not even more so.
In alternating chapters, we hear the voices of Will and his beloved wife, Meghan as they provide a delicate counterpoint - he, trying to protect his family from his disgraceful past and she, fretting about the "masterwork" created by father and daughter, toiling over an old letterpress behind closed doors - their world; not hers. All this to appease a criminal?!!
To this reader, the technical detail and painterly descriptions of scene and senses were captivating. Yet there was also a touch of the macabre which was found to be a bit repulsive. Regardless, the narratives are beautifully rendered, the plot was twisted and went in unimaginable directions. The ending felt disappointingly abrupt, leaving this reader with a myriad of unanswered questions. Perhaps this is just an indication that there will be a third installment in this forger's tale. Only time will tell.
I am grateful to publisher Grove Atlantic for having provided a complimentary electronic uncorrected proof of this work through NetGalley. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.
This sequel to Bradford Morrow's, "The Forgers" is a thought-provoking tale of antiquarian book forging, a failed attempt of breaking free from one's criminal past, and of a tortured soul conflicted between a desire to to stay clean yet also desiring to protect his family from great harm. It's a story of many secrets where every character has them or may even be one. The writing is superlative. It displays the author's love for the written word as well as his ability to paint well the landscape of place as well as that of the mind. The book is part mystery, part psychological thriller and has a fair amount of historical and technical detail related to the fine art of forging historic documents. It also speaks well to the involved process of assessing provenance of historical masterworks from which the forgeries are made. The vast amount of research gathered for this story is most evident and handily shared throughout the book.
A bit about the story -
After twenty years of living a crime-free life, our protagonist and former forger, Will, is coerced, if not blackmailed into creating an exact replica of Edgar Allen Poe's rare imprint of his first book, "Tamerlane". The person seemingly behind this distasteful plan is an old "colleague" of Will's from his former life, with a bit of an axe to grind, who claims to hold damning evidence of a horrific crime perpetrated by Will. What choice does Will have but to do as told and hopefully place this scoundrel in his rear-view mirror for good. To complete the forgery, Will must draw upon the burgeoning artistic talents of his twenty-something-year-old daughter, Nicole. She is as gifted as her father if not even more so.
In alternating chapters, we hear the voices of Will and his beloved wife, Meghan as they provide a delicate counterpoint - he, trying to protect his family from his disgraceful past and she, fretting about the "masterwork" created by father and daughter, toiling over an old letterpress behind closed doors - their world; not hers. All this to appease a criminal?!!
To this reader, the technical detail and painterly descriptions of scene and senses were captivating. Yet there was also a touch of the macabre which was found to be a bit repulsive. Regardless, the narratives are beautifully rendered, the plot was twisted and went in unimaginable directions. The ending felt disappointingly abrupt, leaving this reader with a myriad of unanswered questions. Perhaps this is just an indication that there will be a third installment in this forger's tale. Only time will tell.
I am grateful to publisher Grove Atlantic for having provided a complimentary electronic uncorrected proof of this work through NetGalley. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.
January 11, 2021
The Forger's Daughter was the captivating sequel to The Forgers taking place twenty years later at their country house in New York. What transpires is told alternately from the perspectives of Will and his wife Meghan as we learn more about their daughters Nicole and Maisie and the circumstances leading to a mysterious parcel being given to Maisie to deliver to her father. Once again the dark and exciting and mysterious world of forgery is the focus of this powerful story as a rare and little known book by Edgar Allan Poe, Tamerlane, is found in a private collection and thought to be only one of a handful of surviving copies, and again luring Will, now a much-consulted bibliophile with extensive knowledge of nineteenth century literature, back into his criminal past of forgery. Bradford Morrow's experience as a rare book dealer and collector brings added richness and character to this wonderful book.
"Logic and reason dictate that this is an exceptionally high-quality forgery, the finest facsimile known to bibliophilic man, and not a genuine copy of the so-called Black Tulip of American literary rarities--"
"--Edgar Allan Poe's first book. But if it's really and truly authentic, as he claims it is and it looks to be, though I have every reason not to trust him or myself, for that matter, this would join the ranks of only a dozen copies known to have survived."
"But Poe was no James Joyce, who crossed out and rewrote almost every phrase he set to paper, then crossed out the rewrites too. Edgar's handwriting suggested to me that his ideas came to him in strong steady waves."
"Logic and reason dictate that this is an exceptionally high-quality forgery, the finest facsimile known to bibliophilic man, and not a genuine copy of the so-called Black Tulip of American literary rarities--"
"--Edgar Allan Poe's first book. But if it's really and truly authentic, as he claims it is and it looks to be, though I have every reason not to trust him or myself, for that matter, this would join the ranks of only a dozen copies known to have survived."
"But Poe was no James Joyce, who crossed out and rewrote almost every phrase he set to paper, then crossed out the rewrites too. Edgar's handwriting suggested to me that his ideas came to him in strong steady waves."
March 29, 2020
I remembered reading Forgers long time ago and finding it pretty blah or more like surprisingly underwhelming considering how much I love bibliomysteries. I mean, I learned about the world of book collectors and the art of literary forgeries and all that, but the book itself, specifically the writing, left something to be desired. I actually managed to forget the plot completely, just remembered the general idea of the book And you’d think that lukewarm recollection wouldn’t be especially inviting when it comes to a sequel, but there are not enough good bibliomysteries out there, so one must occasionally settle for mediocre ones. In fact, this one was quite promising at first, the protagonist of book one is now older, more settled in his way, a family man, long retired from forgery, but then he gets blackmailed by an old associate into recreating Poe’s ever so difficult to find early poem collection Tamberlane and with assistance of his similarly talented daughter sets off to do just that. There’s some suspense, not as much as in book one, this one mostly is about family and forgery, the balancing of the two. There’s once again tons of detailed information on the craft and so much about books in general, enough to appeal to most book lovers and collectors. The plot is told from dual perspectives of Will and his wife, something that seems unnecessary and at times even confusing, especially since these transitions are pretty subtle without proper chapter separations. Will’s got a lovely family, so the dramatic aspects of the narrative are good, but the suspense is pretty mild, at best, the surprises and plot twists are too easy to guess, it’s all perfectly pleasant, just not very exciting. Not great for a book sold as a literary thriller. And then there’s Morrow’s writing, perfectly good, but weirdly emotionally aloof and highbrow for this sort of thing. Great for drama, in fact having read his other dramatic work and liked it more, I can definitely say that, but doesn’t quite work as nicely for a suspense thriller. Approach this more as a literary drama about books and forging and you’ll get more out of it. Maybe. I enjoyed it enough. Not sure how much of an audience it’ll have. There wasn’t even a listing for it on GR yet, had to create one, although that does make me a proud first reviewer. Not page count to be found, but if I were to guess, it’s approximately 250 or so. Reads pretty quickly. Might work as a decent how to guide for aspiring forgers. Thanks Netgalley.
December 13, 2020
2 - 1/2*
I am at a disadvantage because this is a ‘sequel’ to a book I have not read.
The language the author has chosen to use does not entirely suit a story set in the 21st Century. If not for the mention of cell phones and the Internet I would have had no idea in which era the story was taking place.
This book wasn’t terrible and I did manage to get to the end but I am not enticed to read another story by this author.
I am at a disadvantage because this is a ‘sequel’ to a book I have not read.
The language the author has chosen to use does not entirely suit a story set in the 21st Century. If not for the mention of cell phones and the Internet I would have had no idea in which era the story was taking place.
This book wasn’t terrible and I did manage to get to the end but I am not enticed to read another story by this author.
July 23, 2020
This was one of the most unusual and fascinating novels I’ve read in a long time. The basic premise was that a reformed forger who is married, a successful dealer in rare books, the father of two daughters, one a preteen and the other finishing college, gets dragged back into making a copy of Poe’s Tamerlane to replace another and that one would be auctioned off. The man dragging him into this situation had assaulted him years earlier and amputated fingers on his right hand, unfortunately for the assaulter, he was left handed. The novel goes into the background of the family and the talents of each of them, but, most fascinatingly goes into the details of forging Tamerlane. It is meticulously researched and brings the reader into a world very few of us have been into before. And it is done very well. I found these descriptions even more grabbing than the underlying mystery. Thanks to Net Galley and Mysterious Press for an ARC for an honest review.
July 23, 2020
This was ok, but I found I could not finish it.
September 2, 2020
In this sequel to The Forgers we find Will, the protagonist of that book, his wife Meg and daughters living an idealic life, primarily at their cottage house in upstate New York. After having given up his talent for forgery for twenty years, his nemesis is back to coerce Will back into the game under the threat of exposing a previous crime that could cause Will to get locked up for a very long time. Agreeing to do the dirty work of his blackmailer is just the beginning of this story, In this one though, Will's daughter Nicole gets dragged into committing the misdeeds with him as both are accomplished printers, perfect for the task demanded of them. That task is just the beginning of the dominoes that eventually fall and no one is spared involvement.
Although I enjoyed this one, I didn't love it. The switching from Will's POV to Meg's is rough, without an indication it's changing leaving the reader to wonder who's POV they're reading until the time in the section that it's revealed more clearly. The writing, while still excellent didn't sit as well with me as the first book I think due to now having the multiple POV's instead of just Will's. I will say however, I was very invested in the story and finished it in one sitting. If you're at all interested in the world of rare books, book collecting and the art of forgery there's plenty of that to be had here so you might want to give it a try.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC to read, review and enjoy.
Although I enjoyed this one, I didn't love it. The switching from Will's POV to Meg's is rough, without an indication it's changing leaving the reader to wonder who's POV they're reading until the time in the section that it's revealed more clearly. The writing, while still excellent didn't sit as well with me as the first book I think due to now having the multiple POV's instead of just Will's. I will say however, I was very invested in the story and finished it in one sitting. If you're at all interested in the world of rare books, book collecting and the art of forgery there's plenty of that to be had here so you might want to give it a try.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC to read, review and enjoy.
September 5, 2020
You know how you fall in love with an author and read everything for a while but lose track now that you no longer go to a physical bookstore and wander the aisles, your fingers trailing along the spines, seeing the old favorites, and excitedly spying new title next to it. I have lost track of Bradford Morrow, reading his first five books and so when I saw his name, I remembered Trinity Fields and Giovanni’s Gift and was excited to read a new book from someone who never failed me yet.
The Forger’s Daughter is a sequel to a book I have not read, The Forgers that did not impede my understanding or enjoyment of the story. The narrative shifts between Will and Meghan, a married couple with two children, Nicole and Maisie. He is a reformed forger and currently a printer. She is a bookseller. When Will is extorted into helping a nemesis from his past with a forgery, his daughter Nicole helps. She is the forger’s daughter of the title. She has a minder of her own.
The Forger’s Daughter is a mix of family drama and thriller. The dynamics between Will, Meghan, and the children shifts and changes and clearly there is a big secret that Meghan does not know so I presume there will be another novel, perhaps one that highlights Nicole.
But I remember his earlier works with such fondness and The Forger’s Daughter does not match them. For some reason, although he is working with a murderous man who chopped off some of his fingers years ago, there is no real sense of menace, perhaps it’s because he brings his daughter along. I know she insists against his better judgment, but a parent can refuse a child’s help.
And yes, there are real moments of jeopardy, but it seems certain that they will be fine. There are also threads left hanging, I hope they will be picked up in the next book.
The Forger’s Daughter will be released on September 4th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
The Forger’s Daughter is a sequel to a book I have not read, The Forgers that did not impede my understanding or enjoyment of the story. The narrative shifts between Will and Meghan, a married couple with two children, Nicole and Maisie. He is a reformed forger and currently a printer. She is a bookseller. When Will is extorted into helping a nemesis from his past with a forgery, his daughter Nicole helps. She is the forger’s daughter of the title. She has a minder of her own.
The Forger’s Daughter is a mix of family drama and thriller. The dynamics between Will, Meghan, and the children shifts and changes and clearly there is a big secret that Meghan does not know so I presume there will be another novel, perhaps one that highlights Nicole.
But I remember his earlier works with such fondness and The Forger’s Daughter does not match them. For some reason, although he is working with a murderous man who chopped off some of his fingers years ago, there is no real sense of menace, perhaps it’s because he brings his daughter along. I know she insists against his better judgment, but a parent can refuse a child’s help.
And yes, there are real moments of jeopardy, but it seems certain that they will be fine. There are also threads left hanging, I hope they will be picked up in the next book.
The Forger’s Daughter will be released on September 4th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
September 7, 2020
The Forger's Daughter is my first book from Bradford Morrow.
"After twenty years of following the rules, Will finds himself coerced by a former nemesis to put his forging talents back to work and forge what many consider to be the rarest book in American Literature, Edgar Allen Poe's first book, Tamerlane. Facing threats to his life and family, Will must rely on his daughter Nicole to create a flawless copy."
The idea for this book sounds great - a chance to see into the world of rare books and their provenance. Unfortunately, the execution is not there. There are unusual metaphors. And sentences that go on forever. A sentence should not have nine commas. So many sentences like that. Descriptions seemed a bit forced. like the author thought we might miss something if he didn't include everything. It made me wonder if an editor even looked at this book.
If you like long, wordy sentences and are fascinated with rare book forgeries, you might think about reading this. If you want concise prose and a fast-paced story, this is not the book for you.
"After twenty years of following the rules, Will finds himself coerced by a former nemesis to put his forging talents back to work and forge what many consider to be the rarest book in American Literature, Edgar Allen Poe's first book, Tamerlane. Facing threats to his life and family, Will must rely on his daughter Nicole to create a flawless copy."
The idea for this book sounds great - a chance to see into the world of rare books and their provenance. Unfortunately, the execution is not there. There are unusual metaphors. And sentences that go on forever. A sentence should not have nine commas. So many sentences like that. Descriptions seemed a bit forced. like the author thought we might miss something if he didn't include everything. It made me wonder if an editor even looked at this book.
If you like long, wordy sentences and are fascinated with rare book forgeries, you might think about reading this. If you want concise prose and a fast-paced story, this is not the book for you.
December 7, 2020
** 2.5- 3 Stars **
Eh.. this one fell short for me and I think I'm to blame. Unfortunately I did not read the first novel "The Forger" and therefore I just didn't connect to the characters.
Will and his wife Meghan, find their daughter Maisie visibly upset, holding a package, she was given by the attacker and told to present to her father. This is all about a plot to counterfeit the rarest book, Edgar Allan Poe's first, Tamerlane.
Yea... It doesn't really sound all that exciting but it was more interesting than I expected. I've read some rave reviews on these, just wasn't for me.
Special Thanks to NetGalley and Mysterious Press for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Eh.. this one fell short for me and I think I'm to blame. Unfortunately I did not read the first novel "The Forger" and therefore I just didn't connect to the characters.
Will and his wife Meghan, find their daughter Maisie visibly upset, holding a package, she was given by the attacker and told to present to her father. This is all about a plot to counterfeit the rarest book, Edgar Allan Poe's first, Tamerlane.
Yea... It doesn't really sound all that exciting but it was more interesting than I expected. I've read some rave reviews on these, just wasn't for me.
Special Thanks to NetGalley and Mysterious Press for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 23, 2020
What a ride! If you enjoy Sherlock Holmes and intricate, convoluted puzzles, this is a novel for you.
Will is a much-consulted bibliophile with extensive knowledge of the history of published 19th century American literature, a printer of classic letterpress work, and personal history as a long reformed forger of the same. His wife Meg is the owner of a renowned NYC book store specializing in rare books of that period and the impetus that keeps Will on the straight and narrow path, along with their two daughters, Nicole and Maisie. Nicole is 20-something, just about finished with college, and a talented artist and calligrapher taught at her Daddy's knee. Maisie, Will and Meg's adopted daughter and the child of Meg's deceased partner in the book shop, Mary Chandler, is just 11.
Eleven months out of the year the family lives in Manhatten. They traditionally spend August at an old farmhouse they own in the Hudson Valley, and it is there that Will is approached by his old nemesis, Henry Stader, also a forger of manuscripts from back in their younger days. Stader is blackmailing Will into duplicating a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's first self-published work, a 40-page poem titled Tamerlane, and a cover letter. Will is over twenty years out of practice as a forger of 19th-century works, though over those years he has taught and encouraged Nicole in the art of classic lettering, and due to an extensive hand injury twenty-something years ago - his right hand hatcheted, leaving only the thumb and part of the little finger by nemesis Slader - not as good as he was as a young man with calligraphic work, but his daughter Nicole is excellent - better even than he in his heyday - and she worms her way into helping with the forgery very much against her mother's wishes and at the heartfelt protest of her dad.
Henry Slader holds an intense grudge against Will, as he did many years in jail for the attack on Will in Scotland. And he intimates knowledge and photos from back in his forging days that would have Will doing hard-time in New York and completely destroy Meg's business reputation.
Then the bumps in the night begin, the little tells that someone has been in the house when they are gone, the missing photo from the family display, and Slader with inside-knowledge that he could only have obtained by spying on the family from the surrounding wooded acreage as they went about their lives. And then Meghan is a witness when a familiar-looking dead man is dumped on a dead-end road. Does she recognize him as the ginger-haired driver who brought Harry Slader to the farmhouse the first time?
Who can you turn to when your life is as at stake, as is your freedom and reputation? How do you keep your children safe in their beds at night? At what point do you have to trust the boys n blue?
I received a free electronic copy of the ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Bradford Morrow, and Grove Atlantic- Mysterious Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.
pub date Sept 18, 2020
Grove Atlantic - Mysterious Press
Reviewed on September 21, 2020, at Goodreads, Netgalley, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, BookBub, Kobo, and GooglePlay.
Will is a much-consulted bibliophile with extensive knowledge of the history of published 19th century American literature, a printer of classic letterpress work, and personal history as a long reformed forger of the same. His wife Meg is the owner of a renowned NYC book store specializing in rare books of that period and the impetus that keeps Will on the straight and narrow path, along with their two daughters, Nicole and Maisie. Nicole is 20-something, just about finished with college, and a talented artist and calligrapher taught at her Daddy's knee. Maisie, Will and Meg's adopted daughter and the child of Meg's deceased partner in the book shop, Mary Chandler, is just 11.
Eleven months out of the year the family lives in Manhatten. They traditionally spend August at an old farmhouse they own in the Hudson Valley, and it is there that Will is approached by his old nemesis, Henry Stader, also a forger of manuscripts from back in their younger days. Stader is blackmailing Will into duplicating a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's first self-published work, a 40-page poem titled Tamerlane, and a cover letter. Will is over twenty years out of practice as a forger of 19th-century works, though over those years he has taught and encouraged Nicole in the art of classic lettering, and due to an extensive hand injury twenty-something years ago - his right hand hatcheted, leaving only the thumb and part of the little finger by nemesis Slader - not as good as he was as a young man with calligraphic work, but his daughter Nicole is excellent - better even than he in his heyday - and she worms her way into helping with the forgery very much against her mother's wishes and at the heartfelt protest of her dad.
Henry Slader holds an intense grudge against Will, as he did many years in jail for the attack on Will in Scotland. And he intimates knowledge and photos from back in his forging days that would have Will doing hard-time in New York and completely destroy Meg's business reputation.
Then the bumps in the night begin, the little tells that someone has been in the house when they are gone, the missing photo from the family display, and Slader with inside-knowledge that he could only have obtained by spying on the family from the surrounding wooded acreage as they went about their lives. And then Meghan is a witness when a familiar-looking dead man is dumped on a dead-end road. Does she recognize him as the ginger-haired driver who brought Harry Slader to the farmhouse the first time?
Who can you turn to when your life is as at stake, as is your freedom and reputation? How do you keep your children safe in their beds at night? At what point do you have to trust the boys n blue?
I received a free electronic copy of the ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Bradford Morrow, and Grove Atlantic- Mysterious Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.
pub date Sept 18, 2020
Grove Atlantic - Mysterious Press
Reviewed on September 21, 2020, at Goodreads, Netgalley, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, BookBub, Kobo, and GooglePlay.
April 21, 2021
Disappointing. The characters were extremely unlikable -- which is not necessarily a deal-breaker, but in this case got in the way of my enjoying the book and the plot. Their morals were more than questionable, and while I don't need a Greek tragedy comeuppance, again, the lack of consequences and the absence of a single moral character was unacceptable to me. The book was readable and the plot kept me turning the pages, but that was not enough.
December 6, 2023
men and their pride are so fragile and their want to be the ones in control of history is so immature and contains immense amounts of insecurity
October 18, 2020
Being a 1st edition book collector myself, I really enjoyed "The Forger's Daughter". Based on the "Tamerlane", an Edgar Allan Poe rarity, Will, a rare book expert and collector and his family's adventures surrounding "Tamerlane's discovery and the forgery Will and his daughter crafted made this a great story for me. If rare books and collecting them if of no interest, you probably won't like this, hence the mixed reviews.
October 28, 2020
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
It appears that this is a sequel to “The Forgers”. That being said I had no problem following the story and relationships between the characters. The book flows in a manner in which can confuse as its shifts narration from Will to Meghan randomly.
This book has taken me so long to read. It was interesting but not enough to captivate me. I was easily distracted by all the extraneous information about forgery, classical music and characters I found less than thrilling.
Will and Meghan adopted Maisie when Mary Chandler, Meg’s best friend/business partner dies. The father is unknown as it is told that Mary used a “donor” to have a baby. The antique book store owners also have an adult daughter Nicole who also has a talent for replication. Will and Meg finally feel settled in New York after living in the countryside in Ireland.
Their lives are suddenly changed when an unexpected and undesired visitor from the past makes his presence known. The history between Will and Henry Slader was competitive and contentious back when Will was deeply involved with forgery of old documents for profit. The relationship ended rather violently when Slader attacks Will ultimately mutilated his right hand. Will had hoped to never see the dangerous man again. Unfortunately, Slader shows up requesting one last favor knowing he has a secret from the past that Will would prefer not be revealed.
The two men share a mutual acquaintance Atticus who is peripherally involved with this latest scam involving a forgery of Edgar Allen Poe’s “Tamerlane”. The historical information regarding Poe was unknown to me and added to the significance of the crime if discovered. The murder of Meg’s brother Adam Deihl has remained unsolved for years. Will and Slader have kept the details of her brother’s involvement with their illegal activities. Meg has her own past secrets which ultimately tie the whole story together.
Overall, I was underwhelmed and found the story predictable. The historical information seemed well researched although laborious in detail. This book is well suited for those interested in mysteries particularly about Poe and antique books.
It appears that this is a sequel to “The Forgers”. That being said I had no problem following the story and relationships between the characters. The book flows in a manner in which can confuse as its shifts narration from Will to Meghan randomly.
This book has taken me so long to read. It was interesting but not enough to captivate me. I was easily distracted by all the extraneous information about forgery, classical music and characters I found less than thrilling.
Will and Meghan adopted Maisie when Mary Chandler, Meg’s best friend/business partner dies. The father is unknown as it is told that Mary used a “donor” to have a baby. The antique book store owners also have an adult daughter Nicole who also has a talent for replication. Will and Meg finally feel settled in New York after living in the countryside in Ireland.
Their lives are suddenly changed when an unexpected and undesired visitor from the past makes his presence known. The history between Will and Henry Slader was competitive and contentious back when Will was deeply involved with forgery of old documents for profit. The relationship ended rather violently when Slader attacks Will ultimately mutilated his right hand. Will had hoped to never see the dangerous man again. Unfortunately, Slader shows up requesting one last favor knowing he has a secret from the past that Will would prefer not be revealed.
The two men share a mutual acquaintance Atticus who is peripherally involved with this latest scam involving a forgery of Edgar Allen Poe’s “Tamerlane”. The historical information regarding Poe was unknown to me and added to the significance of the crime if discovered. The murder of Meg’s brother Adam Deihl has remained unsolved for years. Will and Slader have kept the details of her brother’s involvement with their illegal activities. Meg has her own past secrets which ultimately tie the whole story together.
Overall, I was underwhelmed and found the story predictable. The historical information seemed well researched although laborious in detail. This book is well suited for those interested in mysteries particularly about Poe and antique books.
April 28, 2021
Will is a reformed rare book and manuscript forger who has spent the last twenty years on the straight and narrow living a placid existence with his loving wife, Meghan and two daughters Nicole and Maisie. This idyllic life will be upended as an old enemy of Will has aggressively confronted the eleven year old Maisie in their Hudson Valley, NY home and forced a package upon her that was to be given to her father. Will fervently believed that he had settled all accounts and claims from his past but now in Bradford Morrow’s exquisite sequel to THE FORGERS, entitled THE FORGER’S DAUGHTER he is faced with a decision that could upend his family and their way of life.
Morrow is a talented novelist who in 2014 decided to write a thriller that depicted the underside of the rare book and manuscript world, a world in which Morrow was well versed. His readers will be quite satisfied with his latest effort as he continues to impart the seamier side of his protagonist’s avocation. After his daughter is attacked, Will is confronted with Henry Slader who has reappeared after being released from prison having served a sentence after brutally attacking Will with a meat cleaver while he and the family were living in Kenmare, Ireland severely damaging his right hand when he refused to go along with Sadler’s demands. Lingering in the background throughout the novel is the murder of Meghan’s brother Adam Diehl, another practitioner of literary forgery twenty years earlier, and Will’s own sordid literary past.
Morrow’s approach to preparing and writing a mystery thriller is intellectually satisfying with his repeated references and excerpts from the works of numerous literary figures including, Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and W.B. Yeats. As in the first novel, Morrow’s obsession with anything related to Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes character pervades the story. Morrow places Will in a very tenuous position as Slader demands that he reproduce a copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s first book TAMERLANE which with only twelve known copies in circulation is considered the holy grail of American letters. The story unfolds carefully and selectively as Will and Meghan co-narrate the story telling the tale through alternating chapters.
The novel travels evocatively from upstate New York farmhouses to Manhattan auction houses, and there’s an aptly gothic tinge to the tense drama that ensues. Will does not realize how dangerous Slader’s request and threats pose to his family as to complete the task he must coopt his twenty year old daughter Nicole who he has trained and imparted his knowledge and calligraphical skills over the years.
Despite his misgivings Will proceeded as he felt a weird kinship with Slader who he realized was his equal in the dark craft of forgery. While he mistrusted Slader he was somewhat envious of him as he concluded that the two of them had survived the machinations against each other and had shattered each other’s lives in significant ways as they had been extremely competitive even before they formally met. Will concluded that Slader was no worse a transgressor than he was himself and started to accept the idea that had they been collaborators instead of competitors, God knows what satanic masterpieces they might have produced. But what Will most regretted was that he would have to involve Nicole in the project.
The novel progresses as Will and Meghan narrate chapters sharing their emotions and misgivings about what Slader had roped Will into doing. Through Will and to a lesser extent Nicole the reader will be exposed to the mechanics of preparing forgeries and the emotional toll that it takes. Further, Morrow relates how the avocation of bookselling was carried out and the numerous steps involved in preparing, pricing, and selling books to book dealers, private citizens, or the general public.
As is the case in all of Morrow’s novels he is a master in creating meaningful characters. In THE FORGER’S DAUGHTER they include Henry Slader, a narcissist who is the source of many of Will’s demons; Nicole, Will and Meghan’s perceptive and talented daughter; and Atticus Moore, Will’s rare old book compatriot who reemerges after twenty years.
After spending most of the novel in upstate New York in their Hudson Valley farmhouse Will and Meghan will return to Manhattan and make a spectacular discovery in their bookstore. The discovery will lead to an unexpected turn in the plot line that produces a wild finish to the novel. You do not have to be an obsessive book devotee to enjoy THE FORGER’S DAUGHTER as it stands alone as a wonderful literary thriller.
Morrow is a talented novelist who in 2014 decided to write a thriller that depicted the underside of the rare book and manuscript world, a world in which Morrow was well versed. His readers will be quite satisfied with his latest effort as he continues to impart the seamier side of his protagonist’s avocation. After his daughter is attacked, Will is confronted with Henry Slader who has reappeared after being released from prison having served a sentence after brutally attacking Will with a meat cleaver while he and the family were living in Kenmare, Ireland severely damaging his right hand when he refused to go along with Sadler’s demands. Lingering in the background throughout the novel is the murder of Meghan’s brother Adam Diehl, another practitioner of literary forgery twenty years earlier, and Will’s own sordid literary past.
Morrow’s approach to preparing and writing a mystery thriller is intellectually satisfying with his repeated references and excerpts from the works of numerous literary figures including, Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and W.B. Yeats. As in the first novel, Morrow’s obsession with anything related to Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes character pervades the story. Morrow places Will in a very tenuous position as Slader demands that he reproduce a copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s first book TAMERLANE which with only twelve known copies in circulation is considered the holy grail of American letters. The story unfolds carefully and selectively as Will and Meghan co-narrate the story telling the tale through alternating chapters.
The novel travels evocatively from upstate New York farmhouses to Manhattan auction houses, and there’s an aptly gothic tinge to the tense drama that ensues. Will does not realize how dangerous Slader’s request and threats pose to his family as to complete the task he must coopt his twenty year old daughter Nicole who he has trained and imparted his knowledge and calligraphical skills over the years.
Despite his misgivings Will proceeded as he felt a weird kinship with Slader who he realized was his equal in the dark craft of forgery. While he mistrusted Slader he was somewhat envious of him as he concluded that the two of them had survived the machinations against each other and had shattered each other’s lives in significant ways as they had been extremely competitive even before they formally met. Will concluded that Slader was no worse a transgressor than he was himself and started to accept the idea that had they been collaborators instead of competitors, God knows what satanic masterpieces they might have produced. But what Will most regretted was that he would have to involve Nicole in the project.
The novel progresses as Will and Meghan narrate chapters sharing their emotions and misgivings about what Slader had roped Will into doing. Through Will and to a lesser extent Nicole the reader will be exposed to the mechanics of preparing forgeries and the emotional toll that it takes. Further, Morrow relates how the avocation of bookselling was carried out and the numerous steps involved in preparing, pricing, and selling books to book dealers, private citizens, or the general public.
As is the case in all of Morrow’s novels he is a master in creating meaningful characters. In THE FORGER’S DAUGHTER they include Henry Slader, a narcissist who is the source of many of Will’s demons; Nicole, Will and Meghan’s perceptive and talented daughter; and Atticus Moore, Will’s rare old book compatriot who reemerges after twenty years.
After spending most of the novel in upstate New York in their Hudson Valley farmhouse Will and Meghan will return to Manhattan and make a spectacular discovery in their bookstore. The discovery will lead to an unexpected turn in the plot line that produces a wild finish to the novel. You do not have to be an obsessive book devotee to enjoy THE FORGER’S DAUGHTER as it stands alone as a wonderful literary thriller.
May 27, 2020
20 years ago Will was a successful infamous forger of antique manuscripts and documents. After losing part of his hand in an attack in Ireland and being found out as a forger, he moved back to the States with his family and walked the line since then. Now someone from his past has resurfaced and blackmails him with a secret that could land him life in prison. They want him to copy a rare and previously unseen first edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s earliest poem, so they can switch them and sell the real booklet in an auction without the actual owner being any the wiser that he’s left with a duplicate. Meg, his wife who doesn’t know about this secret, strongly disagrees with this plot, but his eldest daughter, a skilled artist and printer becomes more and more involved in the illegal work.
Of course, blackmail is never that simple and usually, it doesn’t end once you give in to the blackmailer. And the story doesn’t end here, this is only the start of the family’s problems. There are secrets, theft, and murder in both their future and past.
Will the criminal plan succeed? Will Will’s old secret be found out by his wife, or by the police? Will Meg tell what she witnessed? Lots of questions, that need to be answered in the rest of the book.
This is a pleasant and entertaining story full of suspense with an original plot, but it’s not the discovery of the century. Certainly the first half of the book lacks incoherence. It’s a very chaotic rendering of the family’s history up to the point where the blackmail starts. The whole book is told in the alternating voices of Meg and Will, so sometimes you see the same occurrence told from both their points of view. But their retelling of the past isn’t chronological and I had problems to assess what exactly had happened in their earlier lives and when exactly it did, and what the relationship between the various characters actually was. It takes up a very large part of the book to tell all those previous events. Maybe it would have worked better if they had a short linear coverage of the past and then another part labelled ’20 years later’. As it is now, we don’t know how exactly the forgers fell out or how they were found out. Did he confess and tell about every fraud? Obviously not, as he still comes across them. How come that his only punishment was to refund the money he wrongfully received?
The second part of the book is a lot faster paced and there’s a lot going on as well. It feels almost as if it’s a different book.
The author uses several difficult -and to me hitherto unknown- words and expressions. Not that many, that it interferes with the comfort of reading, most of the time the meaning is clear from the context. But I don’t think that some of them are used very regularly in everyday speech.
At least I learned quite a few interesting things about the world of rare book collectors, calligraphy, and about forgery that goes with it.
I didn’t know at the time but apparently there’s a book called ‘the forgers’ by the same author that tells the story of Will’s forging years.
I thank Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for giving me a free ARC of this book; this is my honest and unbiased review of it.
Of course, blackmail is never that simple and usually, it doesn’t end once you give in to the blackmailer. And the story doesn’t end here, this is only the start of the family’s problems. There are secrets, theft, and murder in both their future and past.
Will the criminal plan succeed? Will Will’s old secret be found out by his wife, or by the police? Will Meg tell what she witnessed? Lots of questions, that need to be answered in the rest of the book.
This is a pleasant and entertaining story full of suspense with an original plot, but it’s not the discovery of the century. Certainly the first half of the book lacks incoherence. It’s a very chaotic rendering of the family’s history up to the point where the blackmail starts. The whole book is told in the alternating voices of Meg and Will, so sometimes you see the same occurrence told from both their points of view. But their retelling of the past isn’t chronological and I had problems to assess what exactly had happened in their earlier lives and when exactly it did, and what the relationship between the various characters actually was. It takes up a very large part of the book to tell all those previous events. Maybe it would have worked better if they had a short linear coverage of the past and then another part labelled ’20 years later’. As it is now, we don’t know how exactly the forgers fell out or how they were found out. Did he confess and tell about every fraud? Obviously not, as he still comes across them. How come that his only punishment was to refund the money he wrongfully received?
The second part of the book is a lot faster paced and there’s a lot going on as well. It feels almost as if it’s a different book.
The author uses several difficult -and to me hitherto unknown- words and expressions. Not that many, that it interferes with the comfort of reading, most of the time the meaning is clear from the context. But I don’t think that some of them are used very regularly in everyday speech.
At least I learned quite a few interesting things about the world of rare book collectors, calligraphy, and about forgery that goes with it.
I didn’t know at the time but apparently there’s a book called ‘the forgers’ by the same author that tells the story of Will’s forging years.
I thank Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for giving me a free ARC of this book; this is my honest and unbiased review of it.
October 22, 2020
3.5.
Very interesting but a bit slow ..
Very interesting but a bit slow ..
July 28, 2020
A fast-paced and satisfying follow up to Morrow's earlier book, The Forgers. If you have an interest in old books, letterpress printing, and/or forgery, few novelists are more adept than Morrow at describing this small, sometimes insular, world.
September 6, 2020
Will was an accomplished forger, retired now after a close brush with the authorities twenty years ago, and his competitive partner almost severing his fingers on his right hand. His nemesis, Henry Slader, is back trying to blackmail him into accepting a new project by threatening to expose a previous crime which would ruin his respected consultant reputation at the Manhattan Auction house, and a possible prison sentence.
Slader wants Will to create an expert copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s book, “Tamerlane” one of the most sought after, rare books in the world. If Will accepts this proposal he is going to need the help of his eldest daughter, Nicole, currently an art student and a talented calligrapher herself. However, father and daughter cannot let Meg, Will’s wife and Nicole’s mother ever know.
Factual or fictional, the part of the story that was most captivating was the research done for the rare book market, printing, thievery, and forgery. There were two main narrators, or Points-of-View POV, for this book that were a bit muddled, thereby difficult to follow. The prose is well done but more suited to a time when women wore long skirts, and everyone was more polite. (1800s say.) If you enjoy this elaborate type of writing, then this book is for you. I generally like a pithy paragraph. Lastly, I would suggest reading the ‘Forgers’ by the same author first, to aid your understanding of several plot points.
Quite an entertaining read.
Thank you Netgalley, Grove Atlantic, and Bradford Morrow
September 4, 2020
This is a highbrow version of the "one-last-heist" plot line common to crime fiction. But this is no hackneyed story line, thanks to the author's expertise in antiquarian books. Rather than pulling off a final bank job, the main character, Will, (a reformed forger of rare books) is coerced into creating his crowning "facsimile" for fraudulent purposes.
I liked Will's family: his wife Meghan, and their daughters Nicole, an art student in New York, and Maisie, a pre-teen. They live the lives of well-off academics, filled with classical music, rare wines, and really, really expensive books.
Having recently read the first book in the series, The Forger, I expected to glide through this narrative without any confusion. My reading dream state was frequently interrupted, however, by sudden shifts in POV, both in first person, between Will and his wife. I wonder how much more I would have enjoyed the story had that been handled differently?
Still, I recommend this book. The plot is original, the pace is nimble, and the characters memorable. One thing still haunts me, though: For people who love each other and get along so well, they still manage to keep many deep, tragic secrets from each other. As do we all?
Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press for an advance readers copy.
I liked Will's family: his wife Meghan, and their daughters Nicole, an art student in New York, and Maisie, a pre-teen. They live the lives of well-off academics, filled with classical music, rare wines, and really, really expensive books.
Having recently read the first book in the series, The Forger, I expected to glide through this narrative without any confusion. My reading dream state was frequently interrupted, however, by sudden shifts in POV, both in first person, between Will and his wife. I wonder how much more I would have enjoyed the story had that been handled differently?
Still, I recommend this book. The plot is original, the pace is nimble, and the characters memorable. One thing still haunts me, though: For people who love each other and get along so well, they still manage to keep many deep, tragic secrets from each other. As do we all?
Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press for an advance readers copy.
January 4, 2021
Wow - this book leaves me very conflicted.
First, what I had trouble with - while the prose is eloquent and educated, the "voice" made me check several times to make sure the book was set in the present day. It is. However, it sounds like it was written in the late 1800's - early 1900's. The writing evokes the era of Poe and a genteel class of another time, and maybe that is what the author intended. The reference to a "hamlet" in upstate New York also sounds more European than American. The other "voice" issue I had with the story was that there was no delineation between Meg's and Will's narrative - within the chapters the narrative jumped between the two with no discernible difference - you had to wait for the setting to know who was speaking.
What I loved - the research into Poe, rare books, and printing was intriguing and scholarly. Since all three topics interest me, the descriptions throughout kept this book from going into the do not read pile, as did the mystery of Meg's brother's death. Although we may deduce who killed him, we never find out why.
Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advance reader's copy for review.
First, what I had trouble with - while the prose is eloquent and educated, the "voice" made me check several times to make sure the book was set in the present day. It is. However, it sounds like it was written in the late 1800's - early 1900's. The writing evokes the era of Poe and a genteel class of another time, and maybe that is what the author intended. The reference to a "hamlet" in upstate New York also sounds more European than American. The other "voice" issue I had with the story was that there was no delineation between Meg's and Will's narrative - within the chapters the narrative jumped between the two with no discernible difference - you had to wait for the setting to know who was speaking.
What I loved - the research into Poe, rare books, and printing was intriguing and scholarly. Since all three topics interest me, the descriptions throughout kept this book from going into the do not read pile, as did the mystery of Meg's brother's death. Although we may deduce who killed him, we never find out why.
Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advance reader's copy for review.
April 25, 2020
I received this book to read from NetGalley and Grove Atlantic and I thank them for the opportunity to read this book. I found the book extremely difficult to get into. I had to restart it a couple of times. I didn’t find the characters to be believable nor were they people I could like. While the storyline sounds exciting the actual book lacked any excitement and was quite blah. It wasn’t an awful book but it wasn’t a good book either. I finished it because I don’t like to leave a book without giving it a complete chance. Perhaps others may find it more enjoyable but for me it was slow and boring.
November 11, 2020
As a book lover, I find the details about the literary world in The Forger's Daughter by Bradford Morrow fascinating. Yet, it also renders the slow pace of the book. The conclusion of the book comes at a fast pace and includes some unexpected events. It takes the book away from the world of rare books and brings it somewhere else all together. It's hard to find a protagonist to cheer for by the end unfortunately. Nevertheless, the book is an intriguing look at the world of rare books.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020...
Reviewed for NetGalley.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020...
Reviewed for NetGalley.
September 6, 2020
This is a slow starting book. And I don't mean a "get past the first couple chapters slow" kind of book. I mean more along the lines of "get to about 30% on the ereader" kind of slow. The pace is enough to turn off the reader. This reader, however, plunged onward. I really wish I hadn't, because outside of some things I'll get into below, this book annoyed me. A lot.
Twentyish years ago, the now-reformed Wil was a forger, specializing in books and letters. What I did not know going into this book is that it is a sequel to a book called, aptly enough, The Forgers. I've not read that, but I will give this book points for at least being able to stand on its own. Annoyingly, however, this is only possible by the characters telling us all about what happened before. Wil got caught, lost part of his right hand, they moved, and so on. He's now a stay at home dad who occasionally does consulting for the bookstore where his wife Meghan works, as well as authenticity checks for auction houses and book dealers to weed out forgeries. There is a humorous moment when Wil is asked to authenticate something that is his own forgery. Although he points out for the acquirers that it is, in fact, a forgery, without telling them it is *his* forgery, they proceed to overrule him and sell it at auction for a tidy sum. Most of the time - he tells us - they defer to his opinions.
We come to know - via incredibly stilted prose and dialogue, as if this is taking place in 1900 instead of now - that Wil's old nemesis, Slader, is basically blackmailing him into copying Edgar Allen Poe's first book, Tamerlane. Wil doesn't seem to have much of a backbone to me, but there are vague threats and he gives in rather immediately, with his daughter Nicole - herself now an accomplished author and copier - pitching in. I suppose this is what the title meant, and the title implies that the daughter has taken over the forging (at least to me) and that's actually what pulled me in to request it. Alas, it is not the case. Nicole mainly stands by while Wil does most of the work, occasionally going with him to various places because.....because the plot requires it/it's in the script, I suppose.
There's no real tension in the bits where Slader presents Wil with the copy he's lifted from someone's home, with a directive to get a forgery made by x date so he can slip the forged copy back in place and take the (also forged) one he's lifted to sell without the owner being the wiser for it. Wil just gives us giant infodumps about how things were before and how he has all the feels, but in the end, we know forging is in his blood and what he loves to do - because the things he tells us in his lengthy monologues make us understand this is so.
In fact, there's a TON of telling in this book, whether it's Wil or Meg, in their confusingly presented, alternating narratives, running down "what came before" for the reader or just telling us how they feel in the moment. That's the bad sort of telling. The good sort of telling are the details about forgeries and paper and ink and printing and the other things in which a bibliophile (like me; like the author, I presume) would be interested. Those are, unfortunately, the best part of this book.If the author were to write a nonfiction book about the history of forged books, letters, and papers, or even one restricted to a particular genre or author, I'd probably like that lot more than this, which is not very suspenseful, seemed to be wrongly attached to the mystery genre when it would seem more at home in the literary fiction group, and which has an ending I neither liked nor believed, even for a fictional tale.
I'll go briefly into the language of the book - that is, the tone of the prose - as I'm not certain whether the author was writing this way intentionally or ironically (as I'd not read the book previous to this, so could not compare): as I said, this reads like a novel from 1900. The language is stilted for a 21st century couple. Eloquent it may be, but most people - even forgers and bibliophiles - do not speak the way Wil and Meg speak to the reader when they are doing what I always think of as the English parlor act: telling a tale in the age before television or internet, using language that my grandmother would have called high-falutin'. That is to say, their manner of speaking reminds me a great deal of academia, as the sort of oft-parodied tone of upper crust English novels or Downton Abbey and period shows like it. While I would be perfectly fine with this were Wil and Meg and their family placed in that time, it is not the case in this book, and here they (and the author) come across as pretentious.
As for the ending: I rarely say this, but I hated it. It doesn't match the rest of the book, and at least part of it I would like to have known sooner, as it would have not just informed everything leading up to the end, but it would have informed a choice at the end as well.
If you're a bibliophile, you'll probably like those parts very much. It's clear the author is either working in the field or has done a great deal of research in this area. If you're looking for a more mystery-influenced novel, as I did, unfortunately, I don't believe this reaches the level of a book you'll stay up late into the night reading.
Overall: two stars out of five. Sorry, this simply was not my cup of tea.
Thanks to Mysterious Press and NetGalley for the review copy.
Twentyish years ago, the now-reformed Wil was a forger, specializing in books and letters. What I did not know going into this book is that it is a sequel to a book called, aptly enough, The Forgers. I've not read that, but I will give this book points for at least being able to stand on its own. Annoyingly, however, this is only possible by the characters telling us all about what happened before. Wil got caught, lost part of his right hand, they moved, and so on. He's now a stay at home dad who occasionally does consulting for the bookstore where his wife Meghan works, as well as authenticity checks for auction houses and book dealers to weed out forgeries. There is a humorous moment when Wil is asked to authenticate something that is his own forgery. Although he points out for the acquirers that it is, in fact, a forgery, without telling them it is *his* forgery, they proceed to overrule him and sell it at auction for a tidy sum. Most of the time - he tells us - they defer to his opinions.
We come to know - via incredibly stilted prose and dialogue, as if this is taking place in 1900 instead of now - that Wil's old nemesis, Slader, is basically blackmailing him into copying Edgar Allen Poe's first book, Tamerlane. Wil doesn't seem to have much of a backbone to me, but there are vague threats and he gives in rather immediately, with his daughter Nicole - herself now an accomplished author and copier - pitching in. I suppose this is what the title meant, and the title implies that the daughter has taken over the forging (at least to me) and that's actually what pulled me in to request it. Alas, it is not the case. Nicole mainly stands by while Wil does most of the work, occasionally going with him to various places because.....because the plot requires it/it's in the script, I suppose.
There's no real tension in the bits where Slader presents Wil with the copy he's lifted from someone's home, with a directive to get a forgery made by x date so he can slip the forged copy back in place and take the (also forged) one he's lifted to sell without the owner being the wiser for it. Wil just gives us giant infodumps about how things were before and how he has all the feels, but in the end, we know forging is in his blood and what he loves to do - because the things he tells us in his lengthy monologues make us understand this is so.
In fact, there's a TON of telling in this book, whether it's Wil or Meg, in their confusingly presented, alternating narratives, running down "what came before" for the reader or just telling us how they feel in the moment. That's the bad sort of telling. The good sort of telling are the details about forgeries and paper and ink and printing and the other things in which a bibliophile (like me; like the author, I presume) would be interested. Those are, unfortunately, the best part of this book.If the author were to write a nonfiction book about the history of forged books, letters, and papers, or even one restricted to a particular genre or author, I'd probably like that lot more than this, which is not very suspenseful, seemed to be wrongly attached to the mystery genre when it would seem more at home in the literary fiction group, and which has an ending I neither liked nor believed, even for a fictional tale.
I'll go briefly into the language of the book - that is, the tone of the prose - as I'm not certain whether the author was writing this way intentionally or ironically (as I'd not read the book previous to this, so could not compare): as I said, this reads like a novel from 1900. The language is stilted for a 21st century couple. Eloquent it may be, but most people - even forgers and bibliophiles - do not speak the way Wil and Meg speak to the reader when they are doing what I always think of as the English parlor act: telling a tale in the age before television or internet, using language that my grandmother would have called high-falutin'. That is to say, their manner of speaking reminds me a great deal of academia, as the sort of oft-parodied tone of upper crust English novels or Downton Abbey and period shows like it. While I would be perfectly fine with this were Wil and Meg and their family placed in that time, it is not the case in this book, and here they (and the author) come across as pretentious.
As for the ending: I rarely say this, but I hated it. It doesn't match the rest of the book, and at least part of it I would like to have known sooner, as it would have not just informed everything leading up to the end, but it would have informed a choice at the end as well.
If you're a bibliophile, you'll probably like those parts very much. It's clear the author is either working in the field or has done a great deal of research in this area. If you're looking for a more mystery-influenced novel, as I did, unfortunately, I don't believe this reaches the level of a book you'll stay up late into the night reading.
Overall: two stars out of five. Sorry, this simply was not my cup of tea.
Thanks to Mysterious Press and NetGalley for the review copy.
October 3, 2020
In the year 1827, author Edgar Allan Poe wrote his very first work. It was a small book of poems entitled TAMERLANE. This is not a historical point because of the famous author that Poe would become. TAMERLANE has since become one of the rarest works ever published to the point where there may be only 12 known copies of it still in existence. This makes the original not only an extremely valuable work but also opens up the market to the world of expert forgers who might attempt to recreate the work along with something like a letter from the author that provides a means of authentication to prove that you are holding an original copy in your hand.
If you are unfamiliar with the underground world of forgery then prepare to be fully schooled as you read the latest novel from Bradford Morrow entitled THE FORGER'S DAUGHTER. This novel is a sequel to THE FORGERS, but you need not have read the first novel to enjoy diving into the current one. At the center of the narrative is Poe's TAMERLANE and it is one wild ride from concept to the recreation of one of the rarest books in the world.
It begins with a scream. A bloodcurdling and almost feral scream that startles Will and his wife Meghan as they both bound out of their Hudson Valley, New York farmhouse in search of the source which they fear is their youngest daughter, Maisie. The screamer was Maisie and they find her both shaking and smattered with blood. She is carrying a
parcel which she claims someone gave her to give to her father. Initially, she is so frightened she believes the mysterious person that accosted her was her dead uncle. As she calms down, she realizes that she had no clue who the mystery man was.
The next mystery was to discover what was in the parcel and why the person who provided it would choose this method of getting it to Will. It's not giving anything away to reveal that Will is an expert forger. The daughter of the novel's title could only be one of his two children --- Maisie, who we have already met, and Nicole, her older sister. The mystery man ended up being a creepy character known as Slader. Will knew Slader well as the world that he lived in as a forger was akin to a hacker working with the denizens of the dark web. Slader has a proposal that would make him and Will very rich --- a successful forgery of Poe's TAMERLANE. Such a job could take months to do perfectly --- Slader is asking for Will to complete it in a week and he will pay handsomely for the job being done in such a short period of time.
Even though Will does not trust Slader, they both understand the trick to the forgery game and that is the fact that the best forgeries are never discovered. When it comes to the excellence of execution in such a difficult task Will is the only person Slader would ever consider. Using paper that Slader provided which matched the original 1827 style, Will was off to what he did best. Because of the fast turnover expected with this job, Will had to turn to his daughter Nicole. Even though he had never fully shared his 'process' with her, she had been trained as an excellent calligrapher and could prove to be quite valuable with this latest project.
If committing fraud to the extent that this forgery job was was not enough of a crime, Will and his family are quickly thrown into the middle of another one. Two Detectives, Moran and Bellinger, come to the farmhouse to see if the family might have any information about a body that was found in the area. They play dumb, but the description sounds like a cohort of Slader's who may have been eliminated by Will's favorite sociopath. They now have to tread lightly, especially when Slader had held over Will's head an alleged piece of blackmail consisting of damaging photos he had of him. Whether or not these photos existed was not Will's concern, he just wanted to be done with the job and Slader.
Will and Meghan discover that the person funding the project Slader brought to them was a man named Atticus. Atticus was also not a big fan of Slader's but had no way of directly contacting Will to do this job. What began as a potentially lucrative job offer had quickly devolved into a game of cat-and-mouse where murder and double-crossing were never off the table. When Will and Meghan make a spectacular discovery at their antiquarian bookstore in NYC's Tompkins Square Park area things take an unexpected turn that makes for a wild finale. You don't have to be a book collector or lover of antiquarian books to enjoy THE FORGER'S DAUGHTER. It merely provides the backdrop for a classy literary thriller.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter
If you are unfamiliar with the underground world of forgery then prepare to be fully schooled as you read the latest novel from Bradford Morrow entitled THE FORGER'S DAUGHTER. This novel is a sequel to THE FORGERS, but you need not have read the first novel to enjoy diving into the current one. At the center of the narrative is Poe's TAMERLANE and it is one wild ride from concept to the recreation of one of the rarest books in the world.
It begins with a scream. A bloodcurdling and almost feral scream that startles Will and his wife Meghan as they both bound out of their Hudson Valley, New York farmhouse in search of the source which they fear is their youngest daughter, Maisie. The screamer was Maisie and they find her both shaking and smattered with blood. She is carrying a
parcel which she claims someone gave her to give to her father. Initially, she is so frightened she believes the mysterious person that accosted her was her dead uncle. As she calms down, she realizes that she had no clue who the mystery man was.
The next mystery was to discover what was in the parcel and why the person who provided it would choose this method of getting it to Will. It's not giving anything away to reveal that Will is an expert forger. The daughter of the novel's title could only be one of his two children --- Maisie, who we have already met, and Nicole, her older sister. The mystery man ended up being a creepy character known as Slader. Will knew Slader well as the world that he lived in as a forger was akin to a hacker working with the denizens of the dark web. Slader has a proposal that would make him and Will very rich --- a successful forgery of Poe's TAMERLANE. Such a job could take months to do perfectly --- Slader is asking for Will to complete it in a week and he will pay handsomely for the job being done in such a short period of time.
Even though Will does not trust Slader, they both understand the trick to the forgery game and that is the fact that the best forgeries are never discovered. When it comes to the excellence of execution in such a difficult task Will is the only person Slader would ever consider. Using paper that Slader provided which matched the original 1827 style, Will was off to what he did best. Because of the fast turnover expected with this job, Will had to turn to his daughter Nicole. Even though he had never fully shared his 'process' with her, she had been trained as an excellent calligrapher and could prove to be quite valuable with this latest project.
If committing fraud to the extent that this forgery job was was not enough of a crime, Will and his family are quickly thrown into the middle of another one. Two Detectives, Moran and Bellinger, come to the farmhouse to see if the family might have any information about a body that was found in the area. They play dumb, but the description sounds like a cohort of Slader's who may have been eliminated by Will's favorite sociopath. They now have to tread lightly, especially when Slader had held over Will's head an alleged piece of blackmail consisting of damaging photos he had of him. Whether or not these photos existed was not Will's concern, he just wanted to be done with the job and Slader.
Will and Meghan discover that the person funding the project Slader brought to them was a man named Atticus. Atticus was also not a big fan of Slader's but had no way of directly contacting Will to do this job. What began as a potentially lucrative job offer had quickly devolved into a game of cat-and-mouse where murder and double-crossing were never off the table. When Will and Meghan make a spectacular discovery at their antiquarian bookstore in NYC's Tompkins Square Park area things take an unexpected turn that makes for a wild finale. You don't have to be a book collector or lover of antiquarian books to enjoy THE FORGER'S DAUGHTER. It merely provides the backdrop for a classy literary thriller.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter
September 15, 2020
It can be a problem, knowing too much about something… particularly if you find that thing absolutely fascinating, and feel compelled to share said knowledge with others (who may find it similarly interesting, but in all likelihood, won’t).
There’s also something of an issue with being too fond of your own voice, whether aural or written, so I—fully acknowledging my own tendency to ramble—hesitate to call anyone out on it, but there you have it.
It’s when you combine both of those propensities, though, that things start to get really… tiresome, shall we say. And with that, I give you The Forger’s Daughter, Bradford Morrow’s sequel to his earlier The Forger.
_______________
On the surface, this sounded like a can’t-miss-winner: a mid-life couple and their younger daughter leave Manhattan to spend the summer at their country home in the Hudson Valley… where secrets from the past rear up their ugly heads(!). And oh, such secrets they are… for it turns out that husband Will is an ex-forger of super-rare books (after nearly getting busted some two decades prior, and vowing to wife Meghan to NeverEverDoTHAT,EverAgain!!1!)—something which neither of the couple’s children, collegian Nicole or junior-high-schooler Maisie, know anything about.
(OF COURSE we know that’s all about to change, but it’s cool; we wouldn’t be very good readers if we couldn’t figure that much out, right?)
Anyway, Maisie returns home from visiting friends one day, scraped up and scared to death… because someone wearing a mask (that looked just like her dead uncle!) jumped out in front of her bicycle, giving her a package and instructions to hand it over to Will, then disappeared.
In the package? One of the rarest literary finds of them all (apparently): a copy of a small, obscure, early work by Edgar Allen Poe, entitled Tamerlane… so rare, in fact, that only a dozen are known to exist. And Will’s task? To create a completely-believable facsimile of same… or else.
The “or else” involves what must have been the plot of the author’s previous book; it seems Will and an old “frenemy”—one Henry Slader—had their final falling out over… something, twenty years ago, during which Slader hacked off a couple of Will’s fingers (effectively making the whole forgery thing something of a moot issue, you’d think). But now, Slader wants Will to come out of retirement… or else he’ll tell Will’s family (and possibly the authorities) about what Will did back then. And that is something Will absolutely refuses to let happen.
_____________
So, here’s the thing: if Morrow had been content letting The Forger’s Daughter be just about that scenario, and how Will (and family) dealt with the very determined (and utterly-bonkers) Shader’s demands, it could’ve been a fast-paced, cracking-good story.
Instead, we’re forced to “listen” to more internal monologues, in all their monotonous glory—from both Will and Meghan, since the narration switches back and forth from one chapter to the next—than we really need, or certainly want, to “hear”. (There’s only so much navel-gazing anyone can/should do… and a considerably-smaller amount that a reader wants to endure, on the characters’ behalves.)
Not only that, but remember how I started off… by talking about the inherent problem with being too excited about a topic? Yeah, that. Will is extremely into arcane facts about the history of rare books, famous authors, forgeries (successful and otherwise), printing, and so on… and the author lets him ramble on and on, like, forever. My eyes glazed over through more seemingly-endless passages that went absolutely nowhere than I ever thought possible. (And this, from someone who truly enjoys reading, and really likes Poe!)
Maybe you’ll enjoy The Forger’s Daughter more than I did. The author writes well, in a technical sense, so that’s something. And, while I didn’t really care about either Will or Meghan, the two daughters—Maisie and Nicole—were easy to get behind. Honestly, though, I couldn’t wait to finish this one… just to be done with it, and to never have to return.
~GlamKitty
There’s also something of an issue with being too fond of your own voice, whether aural or written, so I—fully acknowledging my own tendency to ramble—hesitate to call anyone out on it, but there you have it.
It’s when you combine both of those propensities, though, that things start to get really… tiresome, shall we say. And with that, I give you The Forger’s Daughter, Bradford Morrow’s sequel to his earlier The Forger.
_______________
On the surface, this sounded like a can’t-miss-winner: a mid-life couple and their younger daughter leave Manhattan to spend the summer at their country home in the Hudson Valley… where secrets from the past rear up their ugly heads(!). And oh, such secrets they are… for it turns out that husband Will is an ex-forger of super-rare books (after nearly getting busted some two decades prior, and vowing to wife Meghan to NeverEverDoTHAT,EverAgain!!1!)—something which neither of the couple’s children, collegian Nicole or junior-high-schooler Maisie, know anything about.
(OF COURSE we know that’s all about to change, but it’s cool; we wouldn’t be very good readers if we couldn’t figure that much out, right?)
Anyway, Maisie returns home from visiting friends one day, scraped up and scared to death… because someone wearing a mask (that looked just like her dead uncle!) jumped out in front of her bicycle, giving her a package and instructions to hand it over to Will, then disappeared.
In the package? One of the rarest literary finds of them all (apparently): a copy of a small, obscure, early work by Edgar Allen Poe, entitled Tamerlane… so rare, in fact, that only a dozen are known to exist. And Will’s task? To create a completely-believable facsimile of same… or else.
The “or else” involves what must have been the plot of the author’s previous book; it seems Will and an old “frenemy”—one Henry Slader—had their final falling out over… something, twenty years ago, during which Slader hacked off a couple of Will’s fingers (effectively making the whole forgery thing something of a moot issue, you’d think). But now, Slader wants Will to come out of retirement… or else he’ll tell Will’s family (and possibly the authorities) about what Will did back then. And that is something Will absolutely refuses to let happen.
_____________
So, here’s the thing: if Morrow had been content letting The Forger’s Daughter be just about that scenario, and how Will (and family) dealt with the very determined (and utterly-bonkers) Shader’s demands, it could’ve been a fast-paced, cracking-good story.
Instead, we’re forced to “listen” to more internal monologues, in all their monotonous glory—from both Will and Meghan, since the narration switches back and forth from one chapter to the next—than we really need, or certainly want, to “hear”. (There’s only so much navel-gazing anyone can/should do… and a considerably-smaller amount that a reader wants to endure, on the characters’ behalves.)
Not only that, but remember how I started off… by talking about the inherent problem with being too excited about a topic? Yeah, that. Will is extremely into arcane facts about the history of rare books, famous authors, forgeries (successful and otherwise), printing, and so on… and the author lets him ramble on and on, like, forever. My eyes glazed over through more seemingly-endless passages that went absolutely nowhere than I ever thought possible. (And this, from someone who truly enjoys reading, and really likes Poe!)
Maybe you’ll enjoy The Forger’s Daughter more than I did. The author writes well, in a technical sense, so that’s something. And, while I didn’t really care about either Will or Meghan, the two daughters—Maisie and Nicole—were easy to get behind. Honestly, though, I couldn’t wait to finish this one… just to be done with it, and to never have to return.
~GlamKitty
September 5, 2020
My favorite thing about this book was the amount of detail that went into the history of these various famous books. Unless Morrow is an avid bibliophile, a whole lot of research went into this book and it paid off. I loved how easily the facts and stories of different authors and their works flowed out of Will and how convincing the writing was that Will loves these books and documents. The writing in these sections was absolutely wonderful and reminded me of The Da Vinci Code when Robert Langdon would similarly go into these long explanation of the history and backstory of the different works he encounters. There's a real reverence that comes through in Will's character that really enhances the overall tone of the book and I can't emphasize how much I loved it.
My first, and probably largest complaint, is the character development (or lack thereof) of Meghan. The book is split between alternating chapters of her and Will's POV. While I got a really good sense of Will's character, his motivations, and his thought process for his decisions, I could not tell you one of those same aspects about Meghan. About halfway through the book, there's an event that happens that is related to Slader. Now Meghan knows who Will is, who Slader is, she knows the general story of their past and relationship, and she knows about the current forgery project. So I have no idea why she didn't tell Will about the event she witnessed. She does eventually tell Will and the reason she hid it gets hand-waved away in the last few pages of the book. In my opinion, she had no real point of being in the book other than to have a different character to be doing stuff while Will was working on the forgery in the other room. And that 'doing stuff' was running errands or picking vegetables out of the garden. If all of her chapters were deleted, the book would be half as long and twice as good.
Another major complaint I had was the general lack of agency that Will seemed to have. Based on the summary, I expected Will would have to go out and find the materials in order to forge this document. However, Slader gives him everything he needs and gives him a somewhat shorter time table than he would like but the document gets finished on time just fine. Then, in the third act, Will gets surprised with how the document gets back in his hands, but he seems to just shrug it off and go with the flow. It felt like there were 2 Wills in the book. The first was the knowledgeable forger who has a love for old manuscripts and the second was just a cog in the forging machine and didn't have much personality. I had such a hard time seeing these two as the same person. In the forging process, I was much more interested in Will's daughter Nicole. Afterall, with a title like The Forger's Daughter, I expected her character to be a bit more developed than it was. But she also took some agency away from Will by just telling him that she was coming with him a few different times when he went out to various meetings. And although Will does protest a tiny bit, he generally just shrugs it off again and takes her with him.
Finally, the ending to this book is fantastic but comes a little out of left field. The last 5% or so of the book has 10 times the suspense and action that the rest of the book does. The ending also does a lot of heavy lifting in regards to characterization. I really think if the climax of the ending was maybe moved to the first third of the book and the rest of the book would be characters dealing with the fall out of that decision, the overall story would be so much more engaging.
My first, and probably largest complaint, is the character development (or lack thereof) of Meghan. The book is split between alternating chapters of her and Will's POV. While I got a really good sense of Will's character, his motivations, and his thought process for his decisions, I could not tell you one of those same aspects about Meghan. About halfway through the book, there's an event that happens that is related to Slader. Now Meghan knows who Will is, who Slader is, she knows the general story of their past and relationship, and she knows about the current forgery project. So I have no idea why she didn't tell Will about the event she witnessed. She does eventually tell Will and the reason she hid it gets hand-waved away in the last few pages of the book. In my opinion, she had no real point of being in the book other than to have a different character to be doing stuff while Will was working on the forgery in the other room. And that 'doing stuff' was running errands or picking vegetables out of the garden. If all of her chapters were deleted, the book would be half as long and twice as good.
Another major complaint I had was the general lack of agency that Will seemed to have. Based on the summary, I expected Will would have to go out and find the materials in order to forge this document. However, Slader gives him everything he needs and gives him a somewhat shorter time table than he would like but the document gets finished on time just fine. Then, in the third act, Will gets surprised with how the document gets back in his hands, but he seems to just shrug it off and go with the flow. It felt like there were 2 Wills in the book. The first was the knowledgeable forger who has a love for old manuscripts and the second was just a cog in the forging machine and didn't have much personality. I had such a hard time seeing these two as the same person. In the forging process, I was much more interested in Will's daughter Nicole. Afterall, with a title like The Forger's Daughter, I expected her character to be a bit more developed than it was. But she also took some agency away from Will by just telling him that she was coming with him a few different times when he went out to various meetings. And although Will does protest a tiny bit, he generally just shrugs it off again and takes her with him.
Finally, the ending to this book is fantastic but comes a little out of left field. The last 5% or so of the book has 10 times the suspense and action that the rest of the book does. The ending also does a lot of heavy lifting in regards to characterization. I really think if the climax of the ending was maybe moved to the first third of the book and the rest of the book would be characters dealing with the fall out of that decision, the overall story would be so much more engaging.
October 3, 2020
Edgar Allan Poe’s first published work, a small book of poems titled TAMERLANE, released in 1827. The fact that there may be only 12 known copies of it still in existence not only makes the original extremely valuable, it also opens up the market to the world of expert forgers.
If you are unfamiliar with the underground world of forgery, then prepare to be fully schooled as you read Bradford Morrow’s latest novel, THE FORGER'S DAUGHTER. Although this is a sequel to THE FORGERS, it is not necessary to have read the first book before diving into this one. At the center of the narrative is TAMERLANE, and it is one wild ride from concept to the recreation of one of the rarest books in the world.
It begins with a scream --- a blood-curdling, almost feral scream that startles Will and his wife, Meghan. They bound out of their Hudson Valley, New York farmhouse and find their younger daughter, Maisie, both shaking and smattered with blood. She is carrying a parcel that she claims someone handed to her to give to her father. Initially, she is so frightened that she believes this mysterious individual was her dead uncle. As she calms down, she realizes that she has no clue who he was.
The next mystery is to discover what is in the parcel and why the person who provided it would choose this method of getting it to Will. The stranger ends up being a creepy character named Henry Slader. Will knows him well, as the world in which he lives as an expert forger is akin to a hacker working with the denizens of the dark web. Slader has a proposal that would make him and Will very rich --- a successful forgery of TAMERLANE. Such a job could take months to do perfectly; Slader is asking Will to complete it in a week, and he will pay handsomely if it is done in this short period of time.
Even though Will does not trust Slader, they both understand the trick to the forgery game --- that the best forgeries are never discovered. When it comes to the excellence of execution in such a difficult task, Will is the only person Slader would ever consider. Using paper that Slader provides, which matches the original 1827 style, Will is off to do what he does best. Because of the fast turnover expected, Will has to turn to his older daughter, Nicole. Even though he has never fully shared his “process” with her, she has been trained as an outstanding calligrapher and may prove to be quite valuable with this latest project.
If committing fraud is not enough of a crime, Will and his family are quickly thrown into the middle of another one. Two detectives, Moran and Bellinger, come to the farmhouse to see if they might have any information about a body that was found in the area. They play dumb, but the description sounds like a cohort of Slader's who may have been eliminated by Will's favorite sociopath. They now have to tread lightly, especially when Slader has held over Will's head an alleged piece of blackmail consisting of damaging photos he has of him. Whether or not these pictures exist is not of Will's concern --- he just wants to be done with the job and Slader.
What begins as a potentially lucrative job offer quickly devolves into a game of cat-and-mouse, where murder and double-crossing are never off the table. When Will and Meghan make a spectacular discovery at their antiquarian bookstore in the Tompkins Square Park area, things take an unexpected turn that makes for a wild finale. You don't have to be a book collector or a lover of antiquarian books to enjoy THE FORGER'S DAUGHTER, as it merely provides the backdrop for this classy literary thriller.
Reviewed by Ray Palen
If you are unfamiliar with the underground world of forgery, then prepare to be fully schooled as you read Bradford Morrow’s latest novel, THE FORGER'S DAUGHTER. Although this is a sequel to THE FORGERS, it is not necessary to have read the first book before diving into this one. At the center of the narrative is TAMERLANE, and it is one wild ride from concept to the recreation of one of the rarest books in the world.
It begins with a scream --- a blood-curdling, almost feral scream that startles Will and his wife, Meghan. They bound out of their Hudson Valley, New York farmhouse and find their younger daughter, Maisie, both shaking and smattered with blood. She is carrying a parcel that she claims someone handed to her to give to her father. Initially, she is so frightened that she believes this mysterious individual was her dead uncle. As she calms down, she realizes that she has no clue who he was.
The next mystery is to discover what is in the parcel and why the person who provided it would choose this method of getting it to Will. The stranger ends up being a creepy character named Henry Slader. Will knows him well, as the world in which he lives as an expert forger is akin to a hacker working with the denizens of the dark web. Slader has a proposal that would make him and Will very rich --- a successful forgery of TAMERLANE. Such a job could take months to do perfectly; Slader is asking Will to complete it in a week, and he will pay handsomely if it is done in this short period of time.
Even though Will does not trust Slader, they both understand the trick to the forgery game --- that the best forgeries are never discovered. When it comes to the excellence of execution in such a difficult task, Will is the only person Slader would ever consider. Using paper that Slader provides, which matches the original 1827 style, Will is off to do what he does best. Because of the fast turnover expected, Will has to turn to his older daughter, Nicole. Even though he has never fully shared his “process” with her, she has been trained as an outstanding calligrapher and may prove to be quite valuable with this latest project.
If committing fraud is not enough of a crime, Will and his family are quickly thrown into the middle of another one. Two detectives, Moran and Bellinger, come to the farmhouse to see if they might have any information about a body that was found in the area. They play dumb, but the description sounds like a cohort of Slader's who may have been eliminated by Will's favorite sociopath. They now have to tread lightly, especially when Slader has held over Will's head an alleged piece of blackmail consisting of damaging photos he has of him. Whether or not these pictures exist is not of Will's concern --- he just wants to be done with the job and Slader.
What begins as a potentially lucrative job offer quickly devolves into a game of cat-and-mouse, where murder and double-crossing are never off the table. When Will and Meghan make a spectacular discovery at their antiquarian bookstore in the Tompkins Square Park area, things take an unexpected turn that makes for a wild finale. You don't have to be a book collector or a lover of antiquarian books to enjoy THE FORGER'S DAUGHTER, as it merely provides the backdrop for this classy literary thriller.
Reviewed by Ray Palen
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