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The Legacy by Kirsten Tranter

Ingrid inherits a fortune, leaves Australia and her friends and lover, to marry Gil Grey and set up home amid the New York art world. At 9 am on September 11 2001, she has an appointment downtown, and is never seen again. A year later, searching for clues about Ingrid’s life, her friend Julie uncovers layers of mystery and deception …

Carmel Bird has generated quite a bit of interest with her new novel Child of the Twilight and it shows in the number of mentions received in the media this weekend. Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me, Garry Disher’s Wyatt and Henning Mankell’s The Man from Beijing also sparked interest. But it was Kirsten Tranter’s The Legacy that came out on top. Ingrid, the protagonist, inherits a lot of money and leaves Australia and her friends to live in the New York art world. You can read Bookseller’s+Publisher’s original review of the title on page 36 pf the e-mag here–Media Extra.

Most mentioned in the Media this week

1 Legacy, The by Kirsten Tranter
2 Man from Beijing, The by Henning Mankell
3 Child of the Twilight, by Carmel Bird
4 Wyatt, by Garry Disher
5 When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead

Source: http://www.booksellerandpublisher.com.au/articles/2010/02/14751/

This article from Thorpe Bowker’s Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2009, Thorpe-Bowker.

Heir apparent to her own legacy (she is daughter to poet John Tranter and literary agent Lyn Tranter), first-time novelist Kirsten Tranter scored a six-figure, two-book deal with HarperCollins for her debut novel, a contemporary homage to Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady. Recently orphaned Ingrid is adopted into her uncle’s affluent house in Sydney, disrupting the close friendship and unrequited love between protagonist Julia and Julia’s object of desire, Ingrid’s cousin Ralph. Like every other young man around her, Ralph falls in love with brilliant, beautiful Ingrid, but Ingrid travels to New York and marries an older, hot-shot art dealer, becoming stepmum to his child prodigy artist daughter. When Ingrid is presumed dead in the September 11 attacks, Ralph, himself unable to travel, sends Julia to New York to poke around. Ingrid’s New York life unravels in a satisfying mystery, yet The Legacy is much more sophisticated than a typical genre novel. Tranter’s characters are well-written, her prose sophisticated and rich (but never heavy handed, despite many literary references), and self-conscious in the right moments so that it never dips into cliché. This is the most satisfying novel I’ve read all year. I can’t wait toJ see what she does next.

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine (Summer 2009/10, Vol 89, No. 5) is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2009, Thorpe-Bowker.