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Barnaby Brown is unhappy. In middle age, his life has reached an impasse. His beloved wife passed away eighteen years ago, leaving him alone with only his green Amazon parrot, Popsicle, for company. In despair, Barnaby has turned to drink, thereby sabotaging his career and relationship prospects. But Barnaby has one talent—painting—which offers him hope for gainful employment and respectability. When Popsicle’s disappearance brings him into the orbit of two women, Julia and Lisa, who both display romantic interest, Barnaby is motivated to cast aside his slovenly, self-pitying lifestyle and begin selling his artwork. But the allure of liquor proves almost irresistible, and when a scammer cheats him out of a considerable sum of money, Barnaby starts to fear that his aspirations will never take flight.
Henley’s book is a thoroughly lovely and strangely compelling character study of a man haunted by guilt and regret who endeavors to make a new life for himself. The author does a masterful job of building sympathy for the beleaguered painter, meticulously laying out his flaws, gifts, longings, and the underlying fear that has kept his life in stasis. Hints of mystery and romance are threaded throughout, providing a narrative tension that keeps the pages turning. Though the excess of subplots occasionally threatens to make the novel feel overstuffed, the briskness of the prose and the charm of the flirtation between Barnaby and Julia pull the reader along, eager to see whether Barnaby will mature into the man he hopes to become. The arc of his journey—from broken-hearted drifter to confident and thriving artist—is satisfying on multiple levels. This is a novel to be savored. It is warm-hearted without being saccharine and abundant with grief and hope.
Henley's Estelle was 2021 Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist
RECOMMENDED by the US Review