Scarlet in Blue
A Novel
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
A 2023 MICHIGAN NOTABLE BOOK
A beautiful and gripping psychological novel about a mother and daughter who, after a lifetime on the run from a dark and dangerous past, land in a small Michigan town that may hold the key to ending their fugitive lifestyle.
For Blue Lake’s entire life, she and her mother, Scarlet, have been on the run from HIM—the man who Scarlet, a talented and enigmatic painter, insists is chasing them. But now, at fifteen years old, Blue has begun to resent the nomadic life that once seemed like an adventure, increasingly unsure what to make of the phantom pursuer she’s never seen. She only yearns to settle down in one place, to live a normal life.
When Scarlet and Blue arrive in the beachfront town of South Haven, Michigan, it seems that Blue’s wishes might finally come true. She makes a good friend, is falling in love for the first time, and has found a piano teacher who recognizes her budding talent. But even as Blue thrives, she cannot shake her worry about her mother, whose eccentricities and art are only becoming increasingly difficult to understand. Scarlet, meanwhile, has very different intentions for their stay in South Haven. It was no accident that she brought them there and, with the help of the psychoanalyst she’s sought out, Henry, she is determined to find a way to finally escape the shadow of her traumatic past, no matter the cost.
Told through the alternating voices of Blue, Scarlet, and Henry, Scarlet in Blue is a page-turning story about the ramifications of past trauma, the way art can hold our lives together, and, most of all, the enduring bond between mother and child.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Murphy's convoluted sophomore effort (after I Love You More) follows a mother and daughter as they settle in Michigan after years of moving from one town to another while fleeing a man known only as "HIM." In 1968, artist Scarlet Lake has Blue, her 15-year-old daughter, choose her latest alias from a crayon box. A talented pianist, Blue is nonetheless forbidden from playing in front of strangers lest they remember her and accidentally tip off the man Scarlet claims is after them. This doesn't stop Blue from making friends or taking piano lessons with Mr. Kline, who enters her into a big-deal contest. Blue, meanwhile, starts to suspect her mother might be schizophrenic and running from nothing. The truth is elusive, but there are hints that Scarlet might have actual reasons to be afraid. Murphy keeps up the momentum and tension through the first two acts, which read mostly as the darkness-tinged coming-of-age tale of an artist with a sick mother. Unfortunately, the story goes completely off the rails with one ridiculous twist after another as Blue leaves town for the piano contest and Scarlet sets in motion a dangerous plan. What could have been an appealing bildungsroman is sunk by a failed thriller plot.
