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Novel set in San Francisco, California (connect with your inner child)

20th July 2014

The Deception Artist by Fayette Fox, novel set in San Francisco.

1908434244.01.ZTZZZZZZFayette Fox has blown my mind. Just when I thought there could not be a way to make reading a more enjoyable experience, she came in and wrote The Deception Artist. Set in San Francisco in the 1980’s, it flawlessly captures the calmness and social conventions of suburban West Coast America, and Fox does it all through the eyes of a child. The seamless narration between Ivy’s reality and her vision of the world around her (and the one into which she often escapes), creates in the reader a feeling of empathy for the kid and for those whom her child eyes have innocently misunderstood.

Ivy’s voice is pure and soulful, her eyes are quick and wide, her mind witty and marvellous. Anyone who ever had an unbounded imagination will love her; anyone who was always misunderstood for daydreaming or coming up with unusual ideas at playtime will be glad to have her come alive within the pages of this life… Both the life written in the book as well as the life of the reader, either in memory or present facts.

I selected this book to push my own boundaries: I do not work that well with kids, and I thought that by selecting a book that not only had a child as protagonist but also spoke directly in her voice, I could possibly evolve as a reader, writer, or hopefully even as a person. I was not wrong; it so happened that Ivy took me back to my very self, to the core of my beliefs, my loves and my imagination. I trust that if she did that with me she can do it with any reader who’s open to reconnect with their inner child. It’s just as effective as therapy, and cheaper too!

The moments of this book will make you laugh and worry and wonder; you’ll feel for Ivy and the rest of the characters; you’ll turn the pages to find out the truth and discover every time just a little bit more of what was hidden in plain sight. Not a word is wasted, not a line out of place; the story unfolds with perfect timing and articulation, the year passing by in San Francisco, Ivy taking us often to Hawaii with her mind, the sands and seas of both merging in our thoughts, blending in with her desires and her daydreams and her hopes.

This story creates a perfect family portrait; and as eighties that it might seem, with the friendly neighbourhood and the black-and-white-versus-colour TV issues, and the phenomenon that a working mom becomes, anyone will be able to see that the tale is in fact quite timeless, and the sense of belonging and becoming will always be present in our childhoods, and really in our present too, if we pause and think about it.

So, get ready to be heart-warmed and nostalgic, maybe eat some smores or candy bars, and set down to reconnect!

You can find out more about the book and buy it through us by clicking on this link. But do use your local bookshop too.

Sandra for the TripFiction Team. You can connect with Sandra on Twitter and with TripFiction via TwitterFacebook and Pinterest and when we have some interesting photos we can sometimes be found over on Instagram too.

 

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