The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby: A Novel

A fire in 1938 in Paris took the life of surrealist painter Juliette Willoughby and destroyed her bizarre masterpiece, “Self-Portrait as Sphinx.” Or did it? Encouraged by their dissertation supervisor at Cambridge University, Caroline Cooper and Patrick Lambert set out to prove otherwise. The pair, partners in research and love, find a journal written by Juliette and a photograph that suggests the painting survived the fire. If so, where is it?

Their discoveries, unearthed in the Willougby Bequest, a collection of Egyptological materials housed in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, lead them to the Osiris Society founded by Juliette’s father. From there, their search takes them to Longhurst, the Willoughby ancestral home, and finally, to the top-end art world in Dubai… and murder.

This surprise-packed story twists and turns its way through a tightly wound tangle of lies and secrets buried in the unspoken history haunting the Willoughby family. Told from alternating perspectives, first Caroline’s, then Patrick’s, interspersed with extracts from Juliette’s journal, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby delivers some truly blockbuster revelations that will keep readers on the edge of their seats from first page to last. A must for Ellery Lloyd fans and a great find for newcomers.