The Talented Miss Farwell

The Talented Miss Farwell

At the end of the 1990s, with the art market finally recovered from its disastrous collapse, Miss Rebecca Farwell has made a killing at Christie’s in New York City, selling a portion of her extraordinary art collection for a rumored 900 percent profit. Dressed in couture YSL, drinking the finest champagne at trendy Balthazar, Reba, as she’s known, is the picture of a wealthy art collector. To some, the elusive Miss Farwell is a shark with outstanding business acumen. To others, she’s a heartless capitalist whose only interest in art is how much she can make.

But a thousand miles from the Big Apple, in the small town of Pierson, Illinois, Miss Farwell is someone else entirely—a quiet single woman known as Becky who still lives in her family’s farmhouse, wears sensible shoes, and works tirelessly as the town’s treasurer and controller. 

No one understands the ins and outs of Pierson’s accounts better than Becky; she’s the last one in the office every night, crunching the numbers. Somehow, her neighbors marvel, she always finds a way to get the struggling town just a little more money. What Pierson doesn’t see—and can never discover—is that much of that money is shifted into a separate account that she controls, “borrowed” funds used to finance her art habit. Though she quietly repays Pierson when she can, the business of art is cutthroat and unpredictable. 

But as Reba Farwell’s deals get bigger and bigger, Becky Farwell’s debt to Pierson spirals out of control. How long can the talented Miss Farwell continue to pull off her double life? 

Title : The Talented Miss Farwell
ISBN : 9780062897725
Format Type :

    The Talented Miss Farwell Reviews

  • DeAnn

    3.75 Art World Embezzling Stars --Now Available!I must say that I rather enjoyed this one and the complicated character of Becky/Reba Farwell. Due to her struggling family farm equipment business and ...

  • Liz

    This book’s premise was better than its execution. Becky Farwell lives two lives. Back in Pierson, Illinois, she’s the town treasurer and controller, managing the books in such a way to skim off i...

  • Erin

    Giveaway Win!I'm BORED! There are levels to these things and if you're gonna compare a book to The Talented Mr Ripley and Catch Me If You Can than you better be on that level. The Talented Miss Farwel...

  • Barbara

    I can think of two reasons someone would want to write this book, which is based on a real person and real events. 1. The author is interested in exploring how someone could choose to perpetrate a yea...

  • Faith

    From helping to run her father’s company when she was a child, Becky progressed to being a major art trader. Her art purchases were financed by embezzling millions of dollars from a small Illinois t...

  • Christina

    A whirlwind adventure of a book. I lived in New York myself in the 90s and like the talented protagonist of two names, was drawn to Soho and the art scene. Somewhat terrifyingly, it was not hard for m...

  • Elizabeth

    I loved The Talented Miss Farwell as a portrait of what drives a person to do "bad things" (here, it's embezzling in order to buy and sell art as that is Miss Farwell's (aka Becky and aka "Reba" in th...

  • ABookwormWithWine

    So I didn't know going into it that The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe was based on a true story, once I did though that completely enhanced the story for me. I mean, who would think anyo...

  • Carolyn

    This title already has many long reviews here, some that give away the whole plot, so I won't repeat what has already been said. My favorite part of the story was the beginning chapters when Becky Far...

  • Ann-Marie

    How often have you read a book about a character you couldn't bring yourself to like? How often, after reaching that conclusion have you been unable to drop the book anyway?The Talented Miss Farwell h...