by Julia Glass
First published 2017
Tomasina Daulair has worked for celebrated children's author Mort Lear for over forty years, ever since she met him as a twelve-year-old in a Manhattan playground. Now she lives in his Connecticut house, managing his reclusive daily life and guarding the secrets of his troubled past. When Morty dies in an accident, he leaves Tommy his entire estate, along with a will full of puzzling demands she must somehow fulfill. The inheritance creates problems with her estranged brother Dani, angers museum curator Meredith Galarza who expected to receive Morty's artistic collection, and complicates her interactions with Nicholas Greene, the British actor preparing to portray Lear in an upcoming film. When Greene arrives for his planned research visit, he and Tommy discover that Morty confessed something to the actor that changes everything Tommy thought she knew about her employer and herself. Together they must decide how to honor his memory while navigating the upheaval his final wishes have created in their own lives.
Genres: literary-fiction, mystery, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Connecticut, Manhattan
Period: 21st-century
Audio CD · Random House Audio