Synopsis:

An enthralling, redemptive novel set in Bangkok in 1972 and Washington, DC, in 2019 about an expatriate child who goes missing, whose family is contacted decades later by a man claiming to be the vanished boy.

Washington, DC, 2019: Laura Preston is a reclusive artist at odds with her older sister Bea as their elegant, formidable mother slowly slides into dementia. When a stranger contacts Laura claiming to be her brother who disappeared forty years earlier when the family lived in Bangkok, Laura ignores Bea’s warnings of a scam and flies to Thailand to see if it can be true. But meeting him in person leads to more questions than answers.

Bangkok, 1972: Genevieve and Robert Preston live in a beautiful house behind a high wall, raising their three children with the help of a cadre of servants. In these exotic surroundings, Genevieve strives to create a semblance of the life they would have had at home in the US—ballet and riding classes for the children, impeccable dinner parties, a meticulously kept home. But in truth, Robert works for American intelligence, Genevieve finds herself drawn into a passionate affair with her husband’s boss, and their serene household is vulnerable to unseen dangers of a rapidly changing world and a country they don’t really understand.

Alternating between past and present as all of the secrets are revealed, What Could Be Saved is an unforgettable novel about a family shattered by loss and betrayal, and the beauty and hope that can exist even in the midst of brokenness. 

What Could Be Saved is difficult to read at times. While it’s not a happy book, it does contain happiness. Schwarz transports the reader to 1970s Bangkok—illuminating the stark contrast between the privileged Americans and their Thai servants amid the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

I was so impressed with how well this novel is written. Schwarz has chosen her words carefully, making each one count. Even though it alternates between time periods and point of views, I was never confused. Each character felt necessary and vital to the story. And what a story! It’s gut-wrenching at times, utterly devastating. But amid the devastation is hope, and the enduring love of siblings.

Our guiding character is Laura, the youngest Preston sibling, and an artist. The disappearance of her older brother Philip when they were children in Bangkok has defined every aspect of the rest of Laura’s life. When she is contacted and told he may have been found, her life is upended once again. The reader is taken back to 1972 when the Preston family relocated to Bangkok for what they were told would be a year. It turned into four plus years. 

“Making art had once felt exhilarating and terrifying, like combustion or freefall, like peeling herself open. It had felt dangerous and important. Had youth been the necessary ingredient there, or naiveté?”

Liese O’Halloran Schwarz, What Could Be Saved