FICTION

De Potter's Grand Tour

by Joanna Scott
Farrar. Sept. 2014. 272p. ISBN 9780374162337. $30; ebk. ISBN 9780374710460. F
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Starting with the morning on which he disappears from a boat off the coast of Greece, Scott (Follow Me) traces the life of Armand de Potter, a Belgian immigrant to Gilded Age America. Armand transforms himself from a man without money or credentials into a well-heeled and respected leader of luxury travel groups and an international antiquities dealer. Alternating between the perspective of de Potter and his wife, Aimee, and moving backward and forward in time between the 1870s and early 20th century, Scott slowly reveals the successes and failures of a man who is both more and less than he seems. Did he fall, commit suicide, or make himself disappear?
VERDICT Scott's approach may alienate readers who are lured to her book through a love of travel or those who prefer linear storytelling, but readers who stick with the author's layered narrative will find a fascinating tale of the dark side of the rags-to-riches story, a husband and wife whose reality is so convoluted that they aren't entirely known to each other or even to themselves.
Reviewed by Neil Hollands, Williamsburg Regional Lib., VA , Aug 01, 2014
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