az- Stone's Fall: A Novel: Iain Pears | Spiegel & Grau (May 5, 2009)
so have just read opening 70 pages or so, then the end of that first section, then the beginning & end of the next two sections. am going to summarize what I gleaned here [spoiling the ending completely for the unlikely reader of this, mind!], so that can recall & look at reviews after published, in particular to see if I find any answer to, or others also asking, Why did Stone not remove from his will the proviso about his child?

The novel is presented in three parts, each narrated by a different first person narrator: journalist Matthew Braddock in 1909 London (& as frame ~1954 Paris, at funeral of Elizabeth, where told that Henry Cort left with his lawyer a parcel of papers to be delivered to Braddock only after Elizabeth's death); international spy Henry Cort in 1890 Paris; capitalist John Stone in 1867 Venice.

Part I: Braddock is employed by Elizabeth, Lady Ravenscliff, widow of John Stone, Lord Ravenscliff, to find out who is the child to whom he bequeaths 250,000 GBP in a proviso of his will. Braddock is recommended by his newspaper editor (if there turns out to be any further reason he is chosen for the task, I missed it. was there?) and makes inquiries about Stone's business involvements etc under the cover story that he is writing a biography (a cover suggested by Elizabeth, to avoid false claimants). He does not find out anything about the child, as far I gleaned.

Part II: Cort's section is introduced with his letter to Braddock, accompanying papers that comprise a memoir by himself that relates his acquaintance with Elizabeth (this forms the rest of this second section) and a memoir by Stone that he consigned to Cort before his death. Henry Cort is the son of William & Louise Cort. I skipped a lot her, but gathered that he met Elizabeth as an orphan who had become a prostitute; and he recognized her later when she had reinvented herself as a Countess. He was the only person who recognized her and thus the only person who knew her of humble origins & licentious employment. He considers himself her friend, and assures her that he will not expose her; she has fallen in love with an older man John Stone and wishes desperately that he never know her history. Eventually there comes a moment in Paris 1890 when Cort does expose her to Stone as well as another man called Rouvier. He is motivated by revenge because he has been bested in business by Stone, and also he makes money by blackmailing Rouvier, who has paid from govt funds for relations with Elizabeth and would lose much in scandal if this were publicized. Stone goes on to marry Elizabeth in any case. She & Cort have no further friendship.

Part III: Stone's section is introduced by a letter from him to Cort, sent with the memoir that consitutes this final section. In his letter, he writes that Cort owes Elizabeth because of having sold her out in 1890 in Paris. His memoir concerns a time long before he met Elizabeth, when he was in Venice and had an affair with Louise Curt (Henry's mother), who eventually revealed herself to be scheming, manipulative, mentally ill. Their affair resulted in a child, whom she gave birth to while in an asylum and who was taken immediately from her. She eventually tells her husband William of the child, and he ~upon his deathbed contacts Stone and tells him. Stone discredits the information, knowing Louise to characteristically lie to cause pain. However, the notion of the child disturbs him, and he decides to gain mastery over the idea by using it as the solution to a practical concern: he adds to his will a proviso thats a substantial sum be left to his unacknowledged child. Stone believes that in fact there is no such child and therefore his estate will be tied up for quite some time, which will serve his purpose of preventing the coming-to-light of imperfections in his business affairs.
However, Stone continues to be disturbed and eventually seeks out Louise Cort to learn if there really was a child. She says there was, and that after she was released from the asylum, she endeavored to find it. She found out the child's name, orphanage, & a family that had adopted her; but the trail ended and she never found the child. The details she shares with Stone make clear that this child, his daughter, was the Elizabeth who is now his wife.
no one mentions Oedipus, that I saw. is this really the one *shocker* available in narrative? I might have liked if Braddock was the child...
Stone is horrified and, no longer able to live with Elizabeth and unable to live without her, he decides on suicide. Before going to the open window, he writes his letter to Henry Cort, requesting that Cort look after his half-sister, and ensure that (their shared mother) Louise Cort never learn her daughter's identity, so that in turn Elizabeth never learn.

and it seems she never did. Stone learns, relays the fact to Cort along with his memoir, who relays the fact to Braddock with Stone's memoir and the addition of his own. the book leads us in reverse order through these characters and their accounts.

ok, so why did Stone along not include in his suicide preparations, along with this mailing to Cort, an instruction to his lawyer to remove the proviso about his child?!
It seems a great & implausible oversight for him to have left in his will this direct instigation to his widow to research the matter.


re this cover: The Book Design Review: Stone's Fall: Design by Peter Mendelsund. I wouldn't normally get excited about a cover like this --we've all seen the stock certificate motif before-- but the random orientation really helps this along, and the bloody splatter is fun and clearly marks this as mystery fiction. PS: The "JS" on the stock certificate presumably refers to John Stone, the protagonist.
-that is very interesting. To have come to the decision to boldly tilt it in that direction is very adventurous, because yes, this could have been a very ordinary looking piece. The typography is very elegant. The only bit [I dislike] here is the tiny body in the blood splatter.
-I feel as if this is taken from a birds-eye view, as if the man has fallen a great height, then splattered onto the page below. Very cool.
-I love this. It's beautiful it is?
did get my attn as a thick sturdy galley, fr Spiegel & Grau who int me, & by Iain Pears wh dad like a lot, so picked to up to send him esp since this is "a return to the form" of Instance of the Fingerpost which he so liked. I did not read that, and "vast historical mystery" is not my. I did read or at lst look at The Dream of Scipio, I remember from what must be the section about Julian, latest in time, a girl & her father, he is on a ship with them, someone is a painter, and later there is a burning house, maybe some letters, maybe in France.