REVIEWS BY JULIE HALE

My Life as a Fake
The best-selling author of True History of the Kelly Gang returns with a multilayered tale set in the Far East. Sarah Wode-Douglas is the editor of a London poetry journal. She is well acquainted with John Slater, a famous writer and family friend whom she believes contributed to her mother's death. Although she is suspicious of Slater, Sarah agrees to accompany him when he invites her on a tour of Malaysia. There, she becomes hopelessly embroiled in a mystery that will consume her for the rest of her life. In Kuala Lumpur, she meets Slater's friend Christopher Chubb, an eccentric Australian who orchestrated a famous literary hoax in the 1940s, when he fabricated a poet named Bob McCorkle and managed to get some of his work published. A scandal ensued, resulting in a lawsuit and a murder, as Sarah discovers. What's more, McCorkle seems to have taken on a life of his own. When Chubb tips her off to a manuscript of McCorkle's poetry, Sarah is soon obsessed with obtaining it and revealing his work to the public. Mixing mystery and romance, blurring the line between truth and reality, teasing the reader with complex plot twists, Carey has created a sensuous, atmospheric, richly detailed novel that echoes the work of Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad. A reading group guide is available online.

My Life as a Fake
By Peter Carey
Vintage, $13.95
288 pages, ISBN 1400030889



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The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
Presented as a series of letters written by Olivia Hunt during the year that she discovers her younger sister Maddie has cancer, this unique debut novel was a national bestseller. Olivia is a 34-year-old Hollywood film producer who is trying to launch a movie version of Don Quixote with the help of an obstinate director. She divides her time between California and Ohio, where Maddie, newly diagnosed with leukemia, lives with her husband. When the Quixote project is taken on by the studio Olivia used to work for, with Robin Williams and John Cleese set to star in the production, things look bright for her career-wise. She also has a chance to reunite with her beloved ex-boyfriend Michael, a painter who lives in New Mexico. But when Maddie's condition worsens and the movie stalls, Olivia finds herself struggling to keep her spirits, and those of her family, from flagging. Her fast-paced correspondence includes chatty notes written to her best friend, Tina; gruff messages dashed off to Michael; concerned letters addressed to her parents; and of course, pages and pages composed to Maddie. The notes are full of charming digressions and vivid details, seasoned with Olivia's sharp observations and free of sentimentality. Robinson, who is a producer and screenwriter, presents a unique portrait of two sisters and the special bond they share. A reading group guide is included in the book.

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
By Elisabeth Robinson
Back Bay, $13.95
368 pages, ISBN 0316159360



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Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z.
Earning Weinstein comparisons to Jane Smiley and David Lodge, this hilarious debut novel is a perceptive, satirical take on the New York literary scene. Annabelle Goldsmith, a hopeful young poet on scholarship at a prestigious university, becomes an assistant to her writer-hero, Z. Annabelle is eager and thrilled to be working with Z., an acclaimed poet from whom she hopes to learn the secrets of her craft. But what Annabelle gets instead is a crash course in Z.'s tumultuous private life and demanding personality. Unwilling to act as mentor to Annabelle, Z. turns out to be a self-indulgent prima donna who forces her assistant to grovel, assigning her servile duties. Worst of all, Z. tries to sabotage Annabelle's writing career. Weinstein conjures up an unforgettable cast of characters as the narrative progresses, including Lars, Z.'s husband, her troubled daughter Claire, and Harry Banks, Annabelle's James Joyce-obsessed boyfriend. Offering a complete portrait of the literary life with no detail amiss, from the gravitas of poetry retreats, to the complex politics of writing workshops, to the hierarchy of the university system, Weinstein spoofs the rarefied existence of intellectuals, but she does so with good-natured insight and humor. A successful poet herself, she brings a sense of authenticity to the narrative. A reading group guide is included in the book.

Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z.
By Debra Weinstein
Ballantine, $13.95
272 pages, ISBN 0182970942



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