Clasp

Reunited for the extravagant wedding of a college friend, Kezia, the second-in-command to an insane jewellery designer; Nathaniel, the former literary cool kid now selling his wares in Hollywood; and Victor, who has just been fired from a middling search engine, soon slip back into their old roles: Victor loves Kezia. Kezia loves Nathaniel. Nathaniel loves Nathaniel. In the midst of all this semi-merriment, Victor has a bizarre encounter with the mother of the groom that triggers an obsession over a legendary necklace. Lacking employment or any other kind of tie, Victor leaves New York in search of the jewellery, supposedly stashed away in an obscure small town chateau. And, in a bid to save him from ruining whatever is left of his young ambitions, Kezia and Nathaniel set out to find him. Heartfelt, suspenseful and told with Sloane Crosley's inimitable spark and wit, THE CLASP is a story of friends struggling to fit together when their lives haven't gone as planned and of learning how to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake. I took so much pleasure in every sentence of The Clasp, fell so completely under the spell of its narrative tone - equal parts bite and tenderness, a dash of rue - and became so completely caught up in the charmingly dented protagonists and their off-kilter cape, that the book's emotional power, building steadily and quietly, caught me off-guard, and left me with a lump in my throat.' Michael Chabon