Bless the Thief

Witty, fascinating explorations of the nature of identity and authenticity percolate throughout this literary tale of faith, forgery and disinformation in art and life. Young Tom Lynch never knew his father, a scientist lost in the 1937 explosion of the Hindenburg. At age 11 he is sent away by his unloving mother to public school in England. There he begins to follow in his father's footsteps, studying religion, art and literature, and becoming --with the encouragement of the kindly headmaster who is his guardian--fascinated with the work of an obscure 19th-century illustrator, Delaquay. Tom is inducted into the secretive Delaquay Society, which is dedicated to keeping the artist's works from being sold, mechanically reproduced or otherwise displayed outside their membership. While studying at Oxford and working as the society's archivist, Tom becomes obsessed. In his quest to penetrate Delaquay's sensibility, Tom plunges into Rimbaudian chemical excesses that ultimately threaten his life. In the process, he masters the artist's style, becoming a gifted forger, and also discovers dark secrets in his own history to match the perversity of Delaquay and his legacy. Poet Wall (Jacob) fills the novel with arch commentary on art, literature, history and philosophy, all wrapped around an entertaining quasi-Dickensian plot. His oblique approach to mysteries (of both plot and the human heart) makes for an intriguing, entertaining fiction debut that has already met with deserved acclaim in England and Germany. (June)