Taylor Holden The Sense of Paper

The Sense of Paper

Taylor Holden

Bantam, Sep 2006, $14.00

ISBN: 0553803948

War correspondent Charlotte "Charlie" Hudson may be home in England, but remains haunted by how close she came to dying while on assignment. Unable to focus on journalism and needing a distraction from her nightmares Charlie wrote about her haunting experience, Road to Rajak: A Day in the Life of Kosovo, but that failed to cleanse her mind. She turned to her husband Nick, but that proved dismal.

Thinking of doing a book on the great early nineteenth century English romantic landscape artist JMW Turner, Charlie, on a whim to contain her internal demons, visits artist supply store L. Cornelissen & Sons. There she becomes fascinated with all the different types of paper on sale, mumbling out loud which paper JMW Turner would choose. Another customer responds saying none of these. He is highly regarded artist and Turner expert Alan Matheson. They talk over coffee as she thinks this is happenstance that they have met. As he encourages her paper chase, they begin to fall in love, but he has as many troubles as she does especially from live and dead females that lead to Charlie's need to know the truth.

The Sense Of Paper is an excellent modern day love story with a deep look at paper choices somewhat available today but especially during the nineteenth century and its importance to Turner. The mystery of the death of Matheson's daughter adds depth to understanding his ghosts and motives. Yet the core of this exquisite novel is the heroine who seeks something to affirm her reason for living; she may have found this as she begins to comprehend The Sense Of Paper (read the novel to comprehend the subtly of the title) during her research with Alan at her side encouraging her.

Harriet Klausner