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karenstory 's review for:
The Talented Miss Farwell
by Emily Gray Tedrowe
Becky Farwell is our protagonist. (*Actually based on a true person - more about this later.)
We first see her as a high-school math prodigy living in Pierson, Illinois, with her widowed father. Her dad is in failing health. A dealer in agricultural cars, he has lost the business edge. Becky steps in and turns the faltering dealership around.
Still, this being a small-town fable, events soon veer toward heroic self-sacrifice. Becky passes on college to tend to her Dad, settling for an entry-level bookkeeper job in her hometown government.
She is gifted with talent, drive and ambition. She thrives in her administrative role, discovering caches of unused funds – many long forgotten – that the town can put to good use. And thus her reputation blossoms. “Becky always finds a way” becomes her personal brand. Eventually she becomes city controller.
But there is a hitch to this perfect story. Becky isn’t as perfect as she appears.
She has a double life.
And this double-life is the core of this intriguing, fast-paced story.
And this is where the problem lies in the storytelling. It sometimes strains credulity. There are flaws in its’ telling. And I don’t want to expose them here, because that would be spoiler territory.
Still…
It is an interesting read, and the question permeates…
How long will Becky succeed at her ruse? 3.5 stars.
*In the author's notes she does make mention that she had discovered a true story about a Rita Crundwell in the national news in 2012 from a small town in Illinois who worked as a government employee and had embezzled nearly $54 million over twenty years. This was an inspiration for her protagonist character.
(And even as I share this...this information isn't totally giving away spoilers for this fiction story...)
We first see her as a high-school math prodigy living in Pierson, Illinois, with her widowed father. Her dad is in failing health. A dealer in agricultural cars, he has lost the business edge. Becky steps in and turns the faltering dealership around.
Still, this being a small-town fable, events soon veer toward heroic self-sacrifice. Becky passes on college to tend to her Dad, settling for an entry-level bookkeeper job in her hometown government.
She is gifted with talent, drive and ambition. She thrives in her administrative role, discovering caches of unused funds – many long forgotten – that the town can put to good use. And thus her reputation blossoms. “Becky always finds a way” becomes her personal brand. Eventually she becomes city controller.
But there is a hitch to this perfect story. Becky isn’t as perfect as she appears.
She has a double life.
And this double-life is the core of this intriguing, fast-paced story.
And this is where the problem lies in the storytelling. It sometimes strains credulity. There are flaws in its’ telling. And I don’t want to expose them here, because that would be spoiler territory.
Still…
It is an interesting read, and the question permeates…
How long will Becky succeed at her ruse? 3.5 stars.
*In the author's notes she does make mention that she had discovered a true story about a Rita Crundwell in the national news in 2012 from a small town in Illinois who worked as a government employee and had embezzled nearly $54 million over twenty years. This was an inspiration for her protagonist character.
(And even as I share this...this information isn't totally giving away spoilers for this fiction story...)