The Estate

November 1, 2024
In Jost's latest (after Five First Chances, 2023), art appraiser Camille Leray faces burnout from her demanding career and her unique power, which allows her to enter artwork and experience the hidden stories and emotions within. When her power spirals out of control at an exclusive event featuring pieces by the elusive Constance Sorel, Camille's future seems doomed. However, she then receives an invitation from Maxime Foucault to inventory art at his family's estate, D'Arvor; it seems like the perfect chance to revive her career and possibly connect with the handsome and mysterious Maxime. Yet from the moment she arrives, it's clear not all is as it seems. Camille receives a cold reception from the Foucault family, especially from Lila, Maxime's partner. Torn between protecting her sanity and pursuing her obsession with a missing sculpture, Night Swimming, rumored to be Constance's pi�ce de r�sistance, Camille is drawn deeper into the estate's secrets. The novel's moody, gothic setting in a French castle and its dive into Arthurian legends will attract many readers, even with sometimes-disorienting scenes of Camille's mysterious power.

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September 2, 2024
Jost (Five First Chances) stumbles in this awkward fantastical story of an art historian who can see into the inner lives of long-dead artists by viewing their work. Camille Leray has used her uncanny ability to build an impressive career specializing in 19th-century sculptor Constance Sorel, a contemporary of Auguste Rodin. When a lost piece of Sorel’s is discovered, Camille inspects it and encounters its creator’s twisted mental landscape, which doesn’t match up with her impression of Sorel. Suspicious of the sculpture’s provenance, she ruins her career and reputation by making a scene at the auction house’s showcase of the work, where she claims it’s a fake. When Maxime Foucault, a mysterious French aristocrat whose family were once Sorel’s patrons, discovers more of Sorel’s lost works and asks Camille to authenticate them, she seizes the chance to revive her career and piece together the mystery behind Sorel’s disappearance at the height of her productivity. At the Foucault estate, where Sorel once lived, Camille uncovers secrets about the artist’s connection to the family, and about the estate’s connection to the legend of King Arthur (Maxime claims the crystal palace on the property was crafted by Merlin for the Lady of the Lake). As Camille learns more about Sorel, Jost reveals that the artist’s mental health was less sound than Camille believed. Unfortunately, Jost’s depiction of Sorel’s instability feels hackneyed, and the frequent Arthurian references are heavy-handed. Readers can take a pass. Agent: Liv Maidment, Madeleine Milburn Ltd.