Thomas Railles, an American expatriate and former “odd-jobber” for the CIA, is a successful painter living with his beloved wife, Florette, in a small village in the Pyrenees. On an ordinary autumn day, Florette goes for a walk in the hills and is killed by unknown assailants. Was her death simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was it somehow connected to Thomas’s work with the CIA? When French officials detain four Moroccan terrorists and charge them with Florette’s murder, Thomas is invited by his boyhood friend (and former agency handler) Bernhard to witness the interrogation. Thomas's search for answers in this shadow world will lead him to a confrontation that will change him forever.
Ward Just is the author of fourteen previous novels, including the National book Award finalist Echo House and An Unfinished Season, winner of the Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Award. In a career that began as a war correspondent for Newsweek and the Washington Post, Just has lived and written in half a dozen countries, including Britain, France, and Vietnam. His characters often lead public lives as politicians, civil servants, soldiers, artists, and writers. It is the tension between public duty and private conscience that animates much of his fiction, including Forgetfulness. Just and his wife, Sarah Catchpole, divide their time between Martha’s Vineyard and Paris.
Part-time CIA spook Thomas Railles retires to the French countryside, but when his wife is killed by Moroccan terrorists, he realizes that he cannot leave the world behind. With a national tour. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Moody and ruminative, this novel traces the aftermath of the murder of the wife of an American painter living in rural France. Thomas Railles, an artist of some renown, is in his mid-sixties, living in an isolated village near the Pyrenees with his wife, Florette, a local of the region. One snowy evening, she goes for a walk in the woods and turns up dead. Thomas's boyhood friends, whom he has helped with undercover CIA assignments, vow to solve the mystery of his wife's death and soon turn up a small band of Moroccan lowlifes who were traveling through at the time of Florette's murder. Thomas is drawn back into the arena of international intrigue, terrorism, and torture when he visits the prison where the suspects are being held, and his idyllic artistic existence is shattered. Although the novel reads like a good mystery, the vibrant, thoughtful prose is meant to be lingered over and pondered. The story meditates on how our conjuring of the political world traps us like a self-fulfilling prophecy, and we must suffer the consequences. Strongly recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/06.]Jim Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Lib.
[Page 49]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Just has long observed the fault lines in human nature and a person's moral code. In his 15th novel (after the 2005 Pulitzer finalist, An Unfinished Season ), Just, using an unlikely hero, sets his journalist's eye on the ethically fraught war on terror. Thomas Railles is a 65-year-old American expatriate portrait painter of moderate fame who lives with his French wife, Florette, in a Pyrenees village. When Florette goes for a solitary walk in the mountains and is killed by Moroccan terrorists, Railles blames himself for her death: two of his childhood friends now work in intelligence, and he has pulled several "odd jobs" for them over the years, including one that may have inspired this belated "payback." When he eventually faces one of Florette's killers, Railles must decide whether to avenge her death or find a different peace of mind. "Forgetfulness is the old man's friend," he muses, but he is aware of the irony. The ethical questions of Just's tale add moral heft to an emotionally charged narrative. Author tour. (Sept. 6)
[Page 32]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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