Author Jo Brunini chronicles the intersecting lives and relationships of three women as they converge upon their family home in NEVER A CLOUD, a literary novel that explores the complexities of human relationships and family bonds. Violet Grey, the story’s narrator, is an aging bohemian living on the coast of Maine. The novel, which centers around a family gathering at Otyrburn, a rural Scottish estate owned by George Lowell and Margot Reid, skips between Scotland, New York City, and Venice. But it is Violet’s voice—contemplative, melancholy, and occasionally sardonic—that weaves in and out of the narrative, introducing each chapter and commenting on events. The party at Otyrburn is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the mysterious Ava Kerouac, Violet’s daughter and Margot’s half-sister—whom Margot has never met. From this intriguing opening, the novel plunges into a roiling cauldron of characters, including George, the director of Greek and Roman art at the Metropolitan Museum, who is embroiled in an art world scandal; Owen Fowler, the estate’s gardener and an old flame of Margot’s; and William, George’s brother, who owns an art gallery in Venice. These intertwining storylines move back and forth in time, tracing the events leading up to the gathering.
With its intricately detailed milieu and preoccupation with family relations, NEVER A CLOUD often resembles a straight-faced take on a Wes Anderson film (think The Royal Tenenbaums as narrated by Margot Tenenbaum), dwelling mostly in the lofty realm of high society, among characters whose conversations revolve around art (“It’s called bricolage when an artist makes things out of scraps that become a whole,” Margot said) when they aren’t brooding over their personal and familial dramas. It’s the sort of arch, affected tenor that could easily come across as pretentious, but NEVER A CLOUD shores up its elevated tone with strong, evocative prose, convincingly developed characters, and an undercurrent of heartfelt empathy. The audiobook of NEVER A CLOUD, narrated by Molly Secours, brings Violet to vivid life, ably capturing the feel of the novel, albeit with a somewhat monochromatic tone that tends to smudge transitions between its shifting plotlines.
NEVER A CLOUD, Jo Brunini’s complex, deeply introspective take on art, family connections, and long-buried secrets, beautifully captures the shifting emotional truths—and deceptions—among its expansive cast of characters and brings readers into an exotic yet deeply resonant world.
~Edward Sung for IndieReader