If Clara

A mysterious manuscript falls into a bed-ridden writer’s lap in this novel of broken bones, Syrian folktales, and plummets of all varieties. 

In If Clara, nobody stands on firm ground. Daisy, an author 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, a curator of installation art, has no idea that her sister, Clara, has written a novel. However, she does know that Clara suffers from a debilitating mental illness that renders her wildly unpredictable. And Maurice’s life is changed by a pair of binoculars welded to the wall of Julia’s gallery. These stories collide in a most unexpected way.