What Could be Saved
Book Feature - What Could be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz
HBL Note: What Could be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz is a Indie Next pick for this month. This dual-timeline story jumps between 2018 in Washington D.C. and the 1970s in Bankok. It features a lot of my favorite things, including an artist as one of the main characters (I just love reading about characters in creative professions…I should probably dig into that a little more.) This book is being touted as perfect for fans of Ann Patchett and Barbara Kingsolver (two heavy hitters in the literary world!) Plus, if you love What Could be Saved, Liese O’Halloran Schwarz published a previous book (The Possible World) that you can dig into next. Scroll down to read more.
From the publisher:
Washington, DC, 2019: Laura Preston is a reclusive artist at odds with her older sister Bea as their elegant, formidable mother slowly slides into dementia. When a stranger contacts Laura claiming to be her brother who disappeared forty years earlier when the family lived in Bangkok, Laura ignores Bea’s warnings of a scam and flies to Thailand to see if it can be true. But meeting him in person leads to more questions than answers.
Bangkok, 1972: Genevieve and Robert Preston live in a beautiful house behind a high wall, raising their three children with the help of a cadre of servants. In these exotic surroundings, Genevieve strives to create a semblance of the life they would have had at home in the US—ballet and riding classes for the children, impeccable dinner parties, a meticulously kept home. But in truth, Robert works for American intelligence, Genevieve finds herself drawn into a passionate affair with her husband’s boss, and their serene household is vulnerable to unseen dangers in a rapidly changing world and a country they don’t really understand.
Alternating between past and present as all of the secrets are revealed, What Could Be Saved is an unforgettable novel about a family shattered by loss and betrayal, and the beauty that can exist even in the midst of brokenness.