The Clasp

Part comedy of manners, part treasure hunt―the first novel from the writer whom David Sedaris calls “perfectly, relentlessly funny.” Kezia, Nathaniel and Victor are reunited for the extravagant wedding of a college friend. Now at the tail end of their twenties, they arrive completely absorbed in their own lives―Kezia, the second-in-command to a madwoman jewellery designer in Manhattan; Nathaniel, the former literary cool kid, selling his wares in Hollywood; and the Eeyore-esque Victor, just fired from the offices of a middling search engine company. They soon slip back into old Victor loves Kezia. Kezia loves Nathaniel. Nathaniel loves Nathaniel. In the midst of all this semi-merriment, Victor passes out in the mother-of-the-groom’s bedroom. He wakes to her jovially slapping him across the face. Instead of a scolding, she offers Victor a story she’s never even told her son, about a valuable necklace that disappeared during the Nazi occupation of France. And so a madcap adventure is set into motion, one that leads Kezia, Nathaniel and Victor from Miami to New York and LA to Paris and across France, until they converge at the estate of Guy de Maupassant, author of the classic short story “The Necklace.” Heartfelt, suspenseful and told with Sloane Crosley’s inimitable spark and wit, The Clasp is a story of friends struggling to fit together now that their lives haven’t gone as planned, of how to separate the real from the fake. Such a task might be possible when it comes to precious stones, but it is far more difficult to pull off with humans.