The Great Lenore is the tale of a ravishing young Brit whose falsely-reported death provides her with an opportunity to begin a new life. Before she can disappear for good, however, she longs to know the reaction of her two-timing husband and his aristocratic family. To find out, Lenore enlists Richard – an outsider in the money-and-booze sodden landscape of Nantucket high society – to be her eyes and ears. As events unfold, Richard discovers the entanglements of Lenore’s relationships are more intricate than he ever expected – more intricate even than the secrets within Lenore’s miniature punt boat.
This elegant debut paints an idyllic island surrounded by reflective seas and encased in a world where souls collide, mysteries thicken, and dreams unravel. With lively, modern prose reminiscent of The Jazz Age, Tohline orchestrates a playful literary riff on affluence, love, grief, and duplicity. In the author’s words, ”[It] is about dreams, and about the things we sacrifice to chase them.”