Rare Objects

Born in Pittsburgh, Kathleen Tessaro studied drama before emigrating to London. After ten years working as an actress in films, television, and theatre, she trained as a drama teacher and voice coach. During this time, she began to write seriously and produced her debut novel Elegance, which became a bestseller in both hardback and paperback. Kathleen lives in London.

Maeve Fanning, who was raised in Boston’s North End by her widowed Irish mother, is determined to better herself despite the hardships of the Great Depression. However, she also has a dangerous fondness for strange men and bootleg gin—a rebellious appetite for experience that leads to a downward spiral in New York City and an involuntary admission to a remote psychiatric hospital upstate.
Upon her release, Maeve returns to Boston and lands a job at an antiques shop catering to the city’s wealthiest and most peculiar collectors. Run by an elusive English archeologist, the shop is a haven for the obscure and incredible, supplying one-of-a-kind artifacts to its customers while providing Maeve with unique access to New England’s social elite. While delivering a purchase to a wealthy family, Maeve is introduced to beautiful and charming socialite Diana Van der Laar—and recognizes her from the hospital.
Reunited with the increasingly unstable Diana and pursued by Diana’s brother James, Maeve becomes more entwined with the Van der Laar family. Bewitched by the family’s wealth and power, and desperate to leave her own past behind, Maeve is forced to confront just how far she’s willing to go to reinvent herself.

“A beautifully written, thoroughly absorbing novel, full of rich historical detail and intriguing characters. A delight from start to end.” — Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home and A Memory of Violets
“Excellent. . . Tessaro has the skill to transport the reader to another time and place. She put me on the streets of Boston’s North End. But her description of places and sensations throughout the book are wonderful.” — Charles Belfoure, New York Times bestselling author of HOUSE OF THIEVES AND THE PARIS ARCHITECT
“Tessaro’s eye for historical detail is impressive, blending the fashion, music, and cultural attitudes of 1930s Boston into a richly layered story. . . . cleverly crafted with a beguiling heroine amid sumptuous scenery. RARE OBJECTS examines the fragility of self-preservation and the power of personal reinvention.” — Booklist
“Period details, exquisite antiques, and Maeve’s resilient immigrant community enhance this understated story. Tessaro’s sixth novel (after THE FLIRT) will please her fans as well as historical fiction readers seeking a detailed sense of place and a character’s journey.” — Library Journal
“Set in Depression-era Boston, Kathleen Tessaro’s lovely novel about prized possessions, slick façades, broken lives, and a young woman with a past is a treasure!” — Stephanie Lehmann, author of Astor Place Vintage
“Rare Objects is a delicious novel by the imaginative and deft Kathleen Tessaro, who creates unforgettable worlds, and within them, compelling characters who stay with the reader long after she reaches the end.” — Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of All the Stars in the Heavens
“I love Tessaro’s novels and Rare Objects does not disappoint. A glamorous tale of ambition and deception, it is beautifully written, meticulously researched and so vividly characterised that I felt I knew Diana and Mae. A wonderfully absorbing and diverting read with a clever twist in the tale.” — Isabel Wolff, author of Ghostwritten
“Tessaro’s complicated heroines—and the shattering reveal of secret after secret—will keep readers guessing until the final page.” — Publishers Weekly