Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski: Hardcover; 288 pages / English

[Scribner] “A thrilling debut that absolutely delivers” (Town & Country) in which the lines between eccentricity and madness, cruelty and love become hilariously, heartbreakingly blurred. The keys to the mighty Gothic mansion of Thornwalk are about to be handed over to a luxury hotelier. They will spend millions in the restoration, but in doing so, what will be erased? The reader is invited on a tour of this crumbling estate, guided by an enigmatic narrator. Each room holds a secret, from the bolt on the blue room door to a silver spoon in a wooden box. Wrapped around these seemingly insignificant objects are the stories of the five fatherless children who lived here. Taking us from the eve of World War II to the early 2000s, Angela Tomaski paints a “droll” (The New Yorker) and indelible portrait of a once-grand family brought to its knees. What begins as a bucolic snapshot of five children playing cricket on the lawn soon unravels as the world becomes a place they no longer recognize. The Infamous Gilberts is the darkly funny tale of an unusual family, lovingly portrayed. “This dark little novel should be Wes Anderson’s next movie...Tomaski puts a quirky spin on Gothic storytelling…with rare control and evident relish.” —The New York Times Book Review