Publishers Weekly
11/13/2023
A young woman learns her new husband is a spy intent on recruiting her for a dangerous mission in this anemic slow-burn from Carpenter (Red, White, Blue). The book’s unnamed British narrator—who tells much of the story in flashback from middle age—is an aimless 20-year-old when she meets Marcus, a wealthy 50-something American who proposes marriage shortly after the pair falls into a whirlwind romance. On the couple’s honeymoon in France, Marcus confesses he’s dying, and solicits the narrator’s help with a “project.” He then introduces her to Raja, a fellow intelligence officer who asks the narrator to pose as an art dealer and dine at a “dear friend’s” Cap Ferret compound. After the narrator follows instructions to observe the conditions and report back, Raja enlists her participation in the “last act” of a nine-year, multiagency plot to catch the compound’s owner—a former Russian general planning the assassination of U.K.-based American assets. Much of the story is framed as the narrator’s reflection on her long-ago induction into the “secret world” as an unwitting pawn, and while Carpenter wrings some pathos out of that conceit, her narrative elides too much and holds readers at too great a remove to truly captivate. Espionage fans are likely to find this disappointing. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2024
“Lea Carpenter clearly knows the world of espionage well . . . Carpenter knows how to dish out the dread that a spy story needs . . . Moral ambiguity . . . seems to fascinate Carpenter, the way living a double life and every day making your cover, that critical and deeply embedded lie, feel real to everyone around you. It’s also what makes Ilium such an unexpectedly moving novel.”
–Chris Bohjalian, The New York Times
“Reminiscent of the spare, strobe-lit storytelling of the late Joan Didion, Carpenter shows how wealth and sophistication paper over moral rot and how human attachment is a vulnerability when only posing and posturing keep you alive.”
—Vogue
“Exquisite... Ilium is like James Bond as told by the New Yorker.”
–Good Morning America
“The tension of espionage, grief and . . . longing . . . come together in [Ilium] . . . Brilliant. . . . A work of dazzling eloquence and sensitivity.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A lonely young woman yearning for travel, risk and excitement is swept off her feet by an older man who lives the life of her dreams. . . . In this literary spy novel, Carpenter considers whether it is possible to be on different sides of a war yet still embrace a shared humanity.”
—The Washington Post
“A Trojan horse of a spy novel set in the dark world of international espionage . . . [and] a psychological study of a young British woman who finds herself, unwittingly, the perfect asset.”
—Nylon
"The writing is cool, perceptive, and smart, and Ilium reads like a spy thriller by Joan Didion.
—CrimeReads
“Sharp and riveting, Ilium is a literary novel that reads like a psychological thriller. As a masterful and beguiling storyteller, Lea Carpenter is the perfect guide for this journey to a secret place of intrigue and betrayals.”
—Yiyun Li, author of The Book of Goose
“A spellbinding espionage novel. Carpenter’s nuanced understanding of character and identity raises profound questions about love, loss, and the reality of war. Ilium is both mesmerizing and sublime.”
—Clémence Michallon, author of The Quiet Tenant
“Ilium goes well beyond offering an exciting take on espionage literature. Lea Carpenter has built an entirely new wing onto the genre. Intricate, propulsive, rendered with deft emotion, this female-centric spy story has a deeply human heart.”
—Christopher Bollen, author of The Lost Americans
“Spellbindingly-plotted and told in frank, elegant prose, Ilium is a beautiful book about love and war and innocence lost. Carpenter’s depiction of espionage is captivating, while the questions the novel surfaces about identity are perfectly devastating.”
—Lisa Taddeo, author of Animal
“Here is the beating heart of a great espionage novel: devious manipulations and moral ambiguity within intimate relationships, with life-or-death consequences. Ilium delivers it all, plus glamorous international settings, complex characters, and sparkling prose. A tremendously satisfying read.”
—Chris Pavone, author of Two Nights in Lisbon
“Refreshingly cerebral, literary, and cunningly cinematic . . . [Ilium is an] exploration of personal moral ambiguity playing out in the world of international intrigue.”
—Booklist, starred review
“With its dreamily detached narration and elliptical feel, Carpenter’s third novel . . . is less interested in spy vs. spy . . . than the lack of reliable truths in people’s lives and the ways they allow themselves to be formed by events beyond their control. . . . An edgy confessional novel with the trappings of spy fiction.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Ilium is a masterful literary novel posing as a spy novel, and succeeds brilliantly on both levels.”
—BookPage, starred review
"Ilium is an espionage thriller in its richly wrought and detailed plot; but its spotlight falls centrally on the narrator herself, whose yearning for a role to play earns her a bigger one than she could have imagined. The dreamy tone of this sparkling, riveting story sets up a memorable counterpoint to its intrigue. . . . A mesmerizing, moving story about different kinds of seduction."
—Shelf Awareness
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-10-07
A lonely young London woman is unknowingly drawn into a high-stakes intelligence campaign by the man she marries.
Nearly 21, the never-named woman who narrates the novel is targeted by Marcus, a worldly, jet-setting American who happens to own the private garden she spent hours dreamily gazing at as a child. Innocent to the dangers of the world he inhabits, she is drawn to his controlling nature and sense of mystery even though he's more than 30 years her senior. Eager to be part of something, she goes along with Marcus' efforts to groom her as an asset for a group of operatives with ties to the CIA and Mossad. Posing as an aspiring art dealer, she makes an extended visit to the exclusive Cap Ferret home of Edouard, a former Russian general with a fabulous collection of paintings and a lethal past. She is surprised to enjoy his company during their long nightly walks and becomes exceptionally fond of the sweet, super-intelligent 9-year-old son he dotes on. Knowing he is behind Operation Ilium, a revenge plot aimed at American assets in the U.K., will she be able to do what is necessary to help foil it? "The problem is, when you reinvent yourself for someone else you are reinventing around your idea of what they want, and this will get you into all sorts of trouble," she muses. With its dreamily detached narration and elliptical feel, Carpenter's third novel—following Eleven Days (2013) and Red, White, Blue (2018)—is less interested in spy vs. spy or good vs. bad (both sides are equally capable of the worst) than the lack of reliable truths in people's lives and the ways they allow themselves to be formed by events beyond their control. "Truth is a toy I play with," the narrator says in the end. But no more than it plays with her.
An edgy confessional novel with the trappings of spy fiction.
