â'Fake' is great fun, offering a peek into a world of glitz that most of us will never glimpse firsthand."" âWashington Post
From the author of The Boysâ Club, a gripping novel set in the high-stakes world of art forgery that moves across the globe, from the trendy art galleries of Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood to the high-flying international art fairs of Hong Kong.
Can you spot the difference?Â
Emma Caan is a fake.Â
Sheâs a forger, an artist who specializes in nineteenth-century paintings. But she isnât a criminal; her copies are commissioned by museums and ultra-wealthy collectors protecting their investments. Emmaâs more than mastered a Gauguin brushstroke and a van Gogh wheat field, but her work is sometimes a painful reminder of the artistic dreams she once chased for herself, when she was younger and before her family and her world fell apart.Â
When oligarch art collector Leonard Sobetsky unexpectedly appears with an invitation, Emma sees a way outâa new job, a new path for herself, and access to the kind of money she needs to support her unstable and recently widowed mother.Â
But every invitation incurs an obligation . . . and Emma isnât prepared for whatâs to come. As sheâs pulled further into Leonardâs opulent scene, she will discover whatâs lurking beneath the glitz and glamour. When she does, the past sheâs worked hard to overcome will collide with the present, making her wonder how much of her carefully curated life is just as fake as her forgeries . . .
Erica Katz is the pseudonym for a graduate of Columbia Law School who began her career at a major Manhattan law firm. A native of New Jersey, she now lives in New York City, where sheâs employed at another large law firm. The Boysâ Club is her first novel.