Unbecoming is a detailed and entertaining odyssey that moves from high-level theft to the ensuing underground re-imagined life of a young protagonist who flees the scene. Grace manages to escape an attempted art heist but her two longtime friends and co-conspirators aren’t so lucky. Completely on her own, Grace must learn to take on a new identity with one eye—and her heart—still back in her Tennessean home.
Finding herself in the middle of Paris posing as a West Coast transplant, Grace weaves together webs of deception as she tries to outrun the life she left behind. As Grace struggles to “unbecome” the person she was and stretches the truth into her own style of authenticity, she also captivates readers with a sinister tale that moves fluidly back and forth through time. Sophisticated and engaging, this debut by author Rebecca Scherm builds a slow suspense that climaxes with unexpected plot twists and mesmerizing prose. Unbecoming, a Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2015, is a delightful combination of a psychological thriller, character-driven narrative and complicated story of love and coming of age.
Scherm is a graduate of New York University and the University of Michigan, where she was a postgraduate fellow. Scherm currently resides in Michigan and is at work on her second novel. She will appear at Boswell Book Co. at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 8.
