If Clara

Praise for The Search for Heinrich Schl gel

"Martha Baillie has written a timeless masterpiece. Every page is full of haunting wonderment. Truly, I know of no novel quite like it--it's a blessing. The Search for Heinrich Schl gel has dreamlike locutions, it tells the most unusual tale, and it brings the margins of the world to us with photographic immediacy." --Howard Norman, author of Next Life Might Be Kinder

In If Clara, nobody stands on firm ground. Daisy, a writer confined to her home, her leg in a cast from hip to ankle, receives a parcel containing the manuscript of a novel about a Syrian refugee and is asked to pose as its writer. Julia, the curator at the Kleinzahler Gallery, has no idea that her sister, Clara, has written a novel. However, she does know that Clara suffers from a debilitating mental illness, is unpredictable, and lapses easily into hostility. Maurice's life is changed by an art installation involving a pair of binoculars welded to the wall through which visitors are invited to observe passersby outside. An ultralight aircraft's collision with a quiet lawn brings them all together. If Clara explores the emotional weight of friendship, the complexity of family, and people inextricably entwined.

Martha Baillie's most recent novel, The Search for Heinrich Schl gel (Tin House), received wide acclaim and was an O Magazine editors' pick. She was lives in Toronto.