Taylor (Kept
) traverses turn-of-the-20th-century Kansas and the sparkling social circles of Jazz Age London in this swirl of provocative prose and cleverly conceived characters. The novel is told from perspectives ranging from a young boy growing up with his quirky, inventor uncle in the English countryside to an aspiring socialite living life from party to party. The stories may appear disparate, but they are, of course, linked, and Taylor twists and tweaks the plots into an absorbing story of money and ballroom mingling centered on Alice Keach, a pensive and secretive woman who has climbed from modest beginnings in Kansas to the pinnacle of social power in London. Though she's at the height of her influence in English society, a dark secret she thought she'd left behind in America comes back to haunt her. As Alice's life begins to unravel and the stories begin to connect, the narrative takes on the urgency of a finely crafted mystery. The novel is absorbing, wonderfully atmospheric, and loaded with intrigue; it's a wonder Taylor isn't better known. (Apr.)
