The Curiosities by Susan Gloss ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

It's been a long wait for a new book by Susan Gloss but I am happy to tell you that the wait is over and the new book is fantastic! It has everything needed to make a good novel - great characters, friendship, loss, and love plus the added descriptions of paintings and sculptures.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

February 2019; William Morrow; 978-0062933768
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); women's fiction

Nell takes a job as the director of an artist's colony. Even though she has a Ph.D. in art history, she hasn't worked in several years while she and her husband go through several rounds of fertility treatments. She is struggling with her loss of a baby due to miscarriage and isn't sure how to live her life without the children that she'd dreamed of having.  She also needs a paycheck to pay all of the credit cards that she has kept secret from her husband who had no idea that insurance didn't cover all the cost of their fertility treatments.

The artist's colony was set up by Betsy Barrett in her will and after her death, the first group of artists arrived for an in-residency program. Nell and Betsy were total opposites - Nell lives her entire life around the dream of being a mother, Betsy was childless by choice. Nell is not sure what she wants to do with her life while Betsy was a strong determined woman who lived her life on her own terms. The more Nell learned about Betsy and her life, she began to question her own life.

The three artists who arrive for the first in-residency program give Nell a chance to learn her new role. Not only do the artists work in different mediums but they are totally different types of people, all with lots of personal baggage. Will helping these three artists realize their potentials help Nell to recover from her heartbreak and become more inspired with her life or will it make her even more fragile?

I enjoyed all the art references in this book and getting to know the various artists - they were a very eccentric group of people. I especially enjoyed Nell as she tried to turn her life around and discover the person that she really wants to be.

Buy The Curiosities at Amazon

About the Author:

Susan Gloss is the author of the novels VINTAGE and THE CURIOSITIES. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in English and Spanish, and the University of Wisconsin Law School. She lives with her family in Madison, Wisconsin.

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter. 

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