Mercury Pictures Presents (by Anthony Marra)

Really wonderfully written epic, with an amazing setting (Italy and Hollywood in the late 1930's and early 1940s) and a fabulous main character in Maria. (I also loved her love interest, Eddie Lu.)  Yet somehow it took a long time to get through it for me. 

Maybe it's just long and I'm out of practice or something. Maybe it is the narrative switching from stories I was engrossed in to other characters who I found less interesting. Maybe it is the flash-forwards that often removed some of the suspense for me, as the narrator just tells us how things will turn out from time to tie.

But I was really into it at the beginning and the end, and I love the writing, the verisimillitude, the characters, the ending, the plot. So much to love! Just maybe.... it could have been shorter.  Still, I think it's going to be a ToB contender, so I'm glad I read it.