De Potter's Grand Tour

Starred review from July 1, 2014
A dilettante, scholar manque and artifact collector who may or may not be a member of the Belgian aristocracy reinvents himself in late-19th-century New York, embarking on a career as an international tour guide with the assistance of his devoted American wife.Arriving in New York in the 1870s, Armand de Potter is an ambitious immigrant who tries his hand at various business schemes before taking a position as a French teacher in an upstate girls school, where he impresses all with his erudition and patrician bearing. There, he meets his future wife, the genteel and competent Amy, whom he rechristens Aimee. The two found De Potter Tours, escorting wealthy American and British tourists to exotic locales, arranging all facets of the experience to minimize inconvenience for the travelers and enlightening them on the finer points of history and the former glories of fallen empires. Meanwhile, Armand seeks out looted antiquities and struggles to be recognized as a scholar and important collector by the academic establishment. His yearning for the approval and respect of high society, and his great fear of being exposed as an intellectual fraud, or worse, have tragic consequences. The story opens with a mention of Armand's disappearance at sea in 1905, and the rest of the book sets about constructing the intriguing back story and sad aftermath of this calamitous event. Scott (Follow Me, 2009, etc.) builds the tale in layers, providing the perspectives of both the self-mythologizing Armand, who sees no escape from impending financial ruin and ignominy, and the perplexed Aimee as she attempts to come to terms with the sudden loss of her husband and solve the mystery of his disappearance. Though his motives are carefully laid out, Armand remains somewhat unknowable, perhaps by design; Aimee, with nothing to hide, is a more developed and fully realized character.Scott has crafted an understated, atmospheric historical novel as well as an artful mystery set in an era of steamer ships and steam trains, when tourism was new and world travel was a glamorous and sometimes-perilous adventure.

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August 1, 2014

Starting with the morning on which he disappears from a boat off the coast of Greece, Scott (Follow Me) traces the life of Armand de Potter, a Belgian immigrant to Gilded Age America. Armand transforms himself from a man without money or credentials into a well-heeled and respected leader of luxury travel groups and an international antiquities dealer. Alternating between the perspective of de Potter and his wife, Aimee, and moving backward and forward in time between the 1870s and early 20th century, Scott slowly reveals the successes and failures of a man who is both more and less than he seems. Did he fall, commit suicide, or make himself disappear? VERDICT Scott's approach may alienate readers who are lured to her book through a love of travel or those who prefer linear storytelling, but readers who stick with the author's layered narrative will find a fascinating tale of the dark side of the rags-to-riches story, a husband and wife whose reality is so convoluted that they aren't entirely known to each other or even to themselves.--Neil Hollands, Williamsburg Regional Lib., VA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2014
An upstate New York farm girl falls in love with her French teacher, Armand de Potter, a self-described Belgian aristocrat. When they marry, he asks her to change her name from Amy to Aim'e, a minor deception in what will prove to be a life of elaborate facades. But they do live in style, thanks to the success of Armand's innovative venture, the De Potter Tours. As he, always scheming, and she, at once sensible and daring, guide wealthy tourists on first-class adventures around the world, Armand avidly, if not legally, acquires antiquities, amassing a collection he hopes will guarantee him posterity. But when Armand disappears at sea in 1905, Aim'e finds herself in financial straits and stunned by the extent of her husband's scams. The always nimble and imaginative Scott (Follow Me, 2009) riffs both wickedly and sympathetically on the life of the actual Armand de Potter. Ardently researched and sporting historic de Potter photographs, this smart, brisk, witty, and provocative novel is alight with vivid descriptions of the de Potters' travels, and electric with Agatha Christielike suspense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)