What Could Be Saved

A Novel

De: Liese O'Halloran Schwarz

Narrado por: Lisa Flanagan

When a mysterious man claims to be her long-missing brother, a woman must confront her family’s closely guarded secrets in this “delicious hybrid of mystery, drama, and elegance” (Jodi Picoult, number-one New York Times best-selling author).

Washington, DC, 2019: Laura Preston is a reclusive artist at odds with her older sister Beatrice as their elegant, formidable mother slowly slides into dementia. When a stranger contacts Laura claiming to be her brother who disappeared 40 years earlier when the family lived in Bangkok, Laura ignores Bea’s warnings of a scam and flies to Thailand to see if it can be true. But meeting him in person leads to more questions than answers.

Bangkok, 1972: Genevieve and Robert Preston live in a beautiful house behind a high wall, raising their three children with the help of a cadre of servants. In these exotic surroundings, Genevieve strives to create a semblance of the life they would have had at home in the US - ballet and riding classes for the children, impeccable dinner parties, a meticulously kept home. But in truth, Robert works for American intelligence, Genevieve finds herself drawn into a passionate affair with her husband’s boss, and their serene household is vulnerable to unseen dangers in a rapidly changing world and a country they don’t really understand.

Alternating between past and present as all of the secrets are revealed, What Could Be Saved is an unforgettable novel about a family broken by loss and betrayal, and “a richly imagined page-turner that delivers twists alongside thought-provoking commentary” (Kirkus Reviews).

©2021 Liese O'Halloran Schwarz. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Could Have Been 5 Stars

I would have highly recommended this book but there were a couple scenes unnecessary to the story that seemed to be placed there just to promote the author’s view of same sex relationships. That part was disappointing. The rest of the book was beautifully written. It held my interest, was beautiful, sad, terrible, surprising, and memorable with a mostly happy ending.

Riveting, Deep and Disturbing

This was an absolutely fascinating book with very interesting character development. Sometimes the narrative was a bit drawn out for me but overall for its psychological lessons it was very good!

intrigued from start to finish,

interesting characters, cultural insight, captured the cold war era and attitudes of the united states, the american sense of superiority. a well woven tale both past and present. good performance as well.

Intriguing and great character development.

Totally loved this book! It kept me engaged with a fascinating and unguessable plot. Great.

Beautifully written & intensely thought-provoking

All I can say is WOW! Each word, sentence, paragraph and chapter threaded to weave a tapestry of multiple stories over multiple decades. I appreciate that each character was flawed like the artwork in this story but was still beautiful! This was also the first book I’ve listened to by Lisa Flanagan-who in her own right, a beautiful artist. Could not stop listening!

A novel of family secrets and loss

Such an interesting story of family secrets, loss and, ultimately, redemption. The story moves back and forth between the early 70’s and current day. The snapshot of life as an expat family provided additional interest.

disappointingly over-rated

From reviews I expected an intriguing book. However this book it is seriously over written - far to much banal detail. What might be poignant is squandered. Narrator is very poor at reading dialog vs narration. All characters made one dimensional, & trite throughout. Principally indistinguishable. Alas

Excellent

I spent time in Thailand in the 70’s. This brought me back vividly. Thoroughly enjoyed.

What Couldn’t Be Better

This book has mystery, family drama, full characters, the narration is excellent. I found it a little difficult to follow all the characters but they’re all important and so are their stories relevant to the plot.
The ending is wrapped up as best as a difficult story can be finished. The story reached me at an emotional level and I felt like I knew all the characters by the end. Truly remarkable.

So good

I couldn't put it down, that's all I want to say. There are so many questions throughout the story, I don't want to give any answers away. Do yourself a favor and read/listen to this.