An Unexpected Guest

February 27, 2012
It’s not surprising that the prolific short-fiction writer Korkeakivi’s debut novel takes place over a 24-hour period. What is surprising is the depth and magnitude she attains from what first appears to be a thin premise. Clare Moorhouse is the wife of a British diplomat stationed in Paris, a man in line for a promotion to the ambassadorship of Ireland. All Clare has to do is host an elegant dinner with top-ranking officials—and make sure it runs smoothly. It’s something she’s done a thousand times, but this evening is different. The mention of Ireland triggers a flood of memories regarding a youthful but grave mistake she made in college that she’s never forgiven herself for. Running errands throughout the city in preparation for the party, she’s forced to face the demons she’s been carrying by encounters with two men–one of whom has been dead for more than 20 years. Korkeakivi fluidly fuses the past and present, building a solid character in Clare and powerfully exploring whether redemption from past regrets is possible and the lengths one must go to attain it. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman.

Starred review from April 1, 2012
This beautifully modulated first novel follows one day in the life of a British diplomat's American wife as she organizes a dinner party crucial to her husband's career. When the British Ambassador to France falls ill and Clare Moorhouse's husband Edward must host a last-minute dinner for a visiting VIP, he knows he can count on Clare to pull the dinner together in their Paris apartment. After 25 years of marriage, Clare is adept in her role as diplomatic wife: adaptable, circumspect and as pleasantly neutral as her tasteful attire. But the calm precision with which she arranges the dinner belies her growing anguish as the day proceeds. Learning that Edward may be named Ambassador to Ireland forces Clare to consider the secret about her past she has hidden from him: As a college student in Boston, she fell in love with a young Irish Catholic visiting her aunt; she allowed herself to become Niall's mule to smuggle money back to Belfast before he deserted her and later supposedly drowned. Then Niall shows up, a flesh-and-blood ghost of her past mistakes. Those memories are dwarfed by her concern over her impetuous younger son Jamie, who's just been suspended from boarding school on serious charges with political implications. And when a French official is assassinated hours before the party, Clare realizes that her brief street encounter with the primary suspect gives him a possible alibi. Struggling to sort out questions of loyalty, moral expediency and love while calmly carrying out the mundane responsibilities of her life, Clare finds a path to forgiveness and redemption. Yes, this is an homage to Virginia Woolf; echoes of Clarissa Dalloway resonate through Clare Moorhouse, from the pleasure taken in flowers and food to middle aged melancholia to the reunion with a past love, but Clare takes very different lessons from her day than Clarissa. With this seemingly slight day-in-the-life tale, Korkeakivi produces a knowing comedy of manners, a politically charged thriller and a genuinely moving study of the human heart.

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February 1, 2012

The American wife of the British minister in Paris, Clare Moorhouse is suddenly tasked with hosting a dinner that could have profound consequences for her husband's career. She manages with her usual aplomb, even as she frets about her younger son, who seems to have committed a serious offense at his school back in England. More troubling is the thought of her husband's probable next posting to Ireland, a place she has avoided for decades because of some transgression in her youth. As the story unfolds, we learn that this transgression was not mild; during her college years, she had become involved with Niall, an aunt's "charity case" over from Ireland, and his violent opposition to the continuing British presence in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, a French politician has been assassinated, and Clare continues prodding her injured conscience when she realizes that she saw the suspected killer far from the site of the crime. VERDICT Moving between the starched-napkin ambience of high-level diplomacy and urgent questions of revolutionary activity, this engaging debut novel gently probes both without forcing insurmountable choices on its characters. Good for reading groups.--Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2012
A seemingly simple Parisian dinner party fraught with hidden tensions sets the stage for Korkeakivi's exploration of a woman who is deliberate yet fragile, calculating yet honest, in this captivating first novel about appearances concealing truth. American Clare Moorhouse is the wife of a British diplomat in Paris. A sudden dinner party, essential to the delicate chess moves of her husband's political career, sends Clare into the streets of Paris to pull together each detail, as befits a diplomat's wife. As she bustles around making the arrangements, moving through the beautifully described French streets with an ease born of practice, she spots a completely unexpected face, that of a man she knows has been dead for 20 years. Reeling from this apparent ghost from a past she has never disclosed to her husband, Clare continues through her day as the stakes ratchet up considerably on both the professional level for her husband and the personal level for her. Drawn from the same cloth as Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, the easy narrative flow, smooth pacing, and interesting characters compel in this title about genteel intrigue of both politics and the heart.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)