The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby: A Novel

by Ellery Lloyd

Overview

“Read this in about two sittings—absolutely loved it. Dazzlingly clever and beautifully twisty. Don’t miss it!!”—Emilia Hart, author of Weyward

The gripping follow up to the “smart, stylish, and savage” (People) New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club pick The Club—a twisty mystery involving a cursed wealthy family and a Surrealist painting which holds the key to three suspicious deaths over the course of a century.

Some women won't be painted out of history . . .

Everybody knows that in 1938, runaway heiress artist Juliette Willoughby perished in an accidental studio fire in Paris, alongside her masterpiece Self Portrait As Sphinx.

Fifty years later, two Cambridge art history students are confounded when they stumble across proof that the fire was no accident but something more sinister. What they uncover threatens the very foundation of Juliette’s aristocratic family and revives rumors of the infamous curse that has haunted the Willoughbys for generations.

But what does their discovery mean? And how is it connected to a brutal murder in present-day Dubai?

A tale of love and madness, obsession and revenge, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby unravels the riddle posed by a Sphinx who refuses to reveal her secrets . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063323018
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/10/2025
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Ellery Lloyd is the pseudonym for the London-based husband-and-wife writing team of Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. Collette is a journalist and editor, the former content director of Elle (UK), and editorial director at Soho House. She has written for the Guardian, the Telegraph, and the Sunday Times. Paul is the author of two previous novels, Welcome to the Working Week and Every Day Is Like Sunday. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Greenwich. They are the authors of People Like Her and The Club.

Editorial Reviews

Lloyd’s novel interweaves the stories of these three distinct time periods to create an elegant tapestry—and a novel of love, suspense, family secrets, Egyptology, surrealism, and corruption. Above all, it is a novel of women. . . . . the novel will not disappoint. A must for fans of Kate Morton. A delightful puzzle box of a novel.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“This fascinating novel from married couple Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos writing as Lloyd (People Like Her; The Club) contains enough twists and turns to keep it fresh and entertaining.” — Library Journal

“This cinematic and compelling book will appeal to fans of suspense that is enhanced by intellectual history.” — Booklist

“The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is full of well-timed surprises, strange rituals, dreadful deaths—and splendid entertainment from first to last.’  — Wall Street Journal

“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.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A reader can get dizzied by the details in THE FINAL ACT OF JULIETTE WILLOUGHBY . . . . But its engaging central story invites you to push past the excess and revel in the mystery." — New York Times Book Review

"Ellery Lloyd is the pen name of a married duo who’ve been cowriting some of the most vicious and insightful critiques of modern living I’ve ever read. Now, they’ve turned to historical fiction to explore class, colonialism, and misogyny in the pre-war art world." — Literary Hub

"A story filled with obsession, revenge, and love." — BookTrib.

“[A] gripping romp into the lives of the elite.” — Seattle Times

“The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is an uninhibited whodunit with a political bent. Complex and surprising, it takes off in startling directions, with Ellery Lloyd just daring us to piece it all together.” — Anniston Star

"Flawlessly executed through brilliant characterizations, THE FINAL ACT OF JULIETTE WILLOUGHBY accentuates the fascinating world of historical art and women’s struggle for recognition within it, a sordid illicit love affair, a highly dysfunctional family drama, and an intriguing murder and missing person mystery. The duo’s mesmerizing writing style draws readers in, holding them in the palm of their hands until the final page. This book is a highly entertaining, fast-paced, scandalous murder mystery I recommend to art history buffs, as well as mystery and suspense readers." — The Big Thrill

"This novel feels epic without any pretentiousness. It asks important questions: about why art matters, who gets to interpret it, how much control women artists have had, historically, over their legacies, and why critics might become emotionally invested in the art they study." — Reviewing the Evidence

"The novel jumps between decades and voices, but the pieces come together in a satisfying mystery. . . .The women – Willoughby, Cooper, and Long – emerge as the drivers of the story. They shine the light of truth on events, and art shows them the way." — Christian Science Monitor

"Intoxicating, enthralling, compelling . . . the reclaiming of an artist's story wrapped up in a mystery with a great love story to boot. I loved it!" — Harriet Tyce, author of It Ends at Midnight

"An original, compulsive and brilliantly told mystery set within a world of secrets and privilege spanning decades and continents. Like a reversal of the painting at its centre, the layers of the story are carefully peeled back until the picture is revealed. From the first page to the last, I loved it." — Charlotte Philby, author of Edith and Kim

"Indiana Jones meets The Thomas Crown Affair—an art-world thriller that blends Bullingdon Club hijinks with an academic adventure so richly drawn you'll be googling to see whether it really happened. Egyptology, Surrealism, and country house mystery—Juliette Willoughby is the new Da Vinci Code." — Harriet Walker, author of The Wedding Night

"A clever, richly imagined, first-class mystery. A story both thrilling and deeply layered, touching and fun. I loved it." — Chris Whitaker

“The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is a page turner filled with plot twists and secrets. Fans of Ellery Lloyd will not be disappointed.”  — B.A. Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger

"A stunning, intricately plotted and clever mystery that spans decades and has everything I love in a thriller: a rambling old mansion, a family secret, a missing person, a painting with hidden clues to a murder, and a love story at its heart. I loved it." — Claire Douglas, author of The Girls Who Disappeared

"The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is smart, stylish, and sly. This page-turner sets us in rapid motion with a murder, aristocratic intrigue, and the mesmerizing story of a Surrealist painter and her masterpiece through time, keeping us happily in orbit until the very last page.” — Dominic Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos and Return to Valetto

"With a delicious, enticing premise and rich plotting, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is a stylish art-world thriller." — Flynn Berry, New York Times bestselling author of Northern Spy

"What a fascinating, intricately stitched literary treat from Ellery Lloyd. Bold and ambitious and consuming from start to finish - I absolutely loved it." — Louise Candlish, bestselling author of Our House

“The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is a whip-smart page-turner with twists and turns that’ll keep a hold on you right up until the final, gripping denouement. It paints such a vivid picture of the international art world that you’ll wonder whether Juliette Willoughby actually existed or if she really is just a figment of the authors’ frighteningly vivid imagination. A terrific, hands down, five-star read.” — John Marrs, bestselling author of The One

"A terrific, transportive read that had everything I could wish for in a mystery, all twisted up with a darkly satisfying plot that was worthy of Edgar Allen Poe. Wonderful!" — Gytha Lodge, author of A Killer in the Family

"Expertly paced and extraordinarily plotted, Ellery Llyod’s new novel mixes academic ambition and family secrets with explosive results. The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is a deliciously erudite thriller that makes even a trip to the archives seem fun, if deadly. Truly, the perfect thing to read after you’ve finished watching Saltburn." — Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters

"A rollicking thriller, an epic love story, and a brilliant examination of the many ways women are painted out of history. The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby has an Indiana Jones sense of fun and a heart of fury that brought to mind Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Ellery Lloyd just keeps getting better." — Abigail Dean, author of Girl A

"I was completely absorbed by this rich and immersive read. Mysteries heaped upon mysteries with a fascinating and glamorous cast. It made me stay up late into the night to discover the truth. What a brilliant story." — Cesca Major, author of Maybe Next Time

From the Publisher

04/29/2024

Bestselling husband-and-wife duo Paul Vlitos and Collette Lyons, writing as Lloyd, follow up The Club with an overstuffed art world mystery. In the middle of giving a press conference about the lucrative sale of a long-lost painting by British surrealist Juliette Willoughby, Dubai gallery owner Patrick Lambert is arrested for murder. The action then flashes back to 1991, when Patrick met his wife, Caroline, at Cambridge, and the pair stumbled on the late Willoughby’s journal in an unsorted box of memorabilia on campus. The journal’s contents appear to shed new light on Willoughby’s 1938 death in a fire, insinuating that someone close to her may have killed her as part of a long-running vendetta. Other mysteries—including the disappearance of Patrick and Caroline’s classmate at Cambridge and a Willoughby servant who went missing in the ’30s—crowd the narrative. Though the various plot strands eventually tie back to the murder accusation that kicks things off, many readers will find that they’re no longer invested in finding out who Patrick may have killed, and why. A too-convenient payoff doesn’t help matters. This is a letdown. Agent: Hillary Jacobson, CAA. (June)

Publishers Weekly

05/03/2024

This fascinating novel from married couple Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos writing as Lloyd (People Like Her; The Club) contains enough twists and turns to keep it fresh and entertaining. The duo use several points of view to offer different perspectives, plus dual timelines to illustrate the unfolding of events dynamically. In the present, Caroline Cooper and Patrick Lambert, students at Cambridge working on their dissertations, discover a mystery surrounding a painting from the 1930s that was made by Juliette Willoughby, a rebel with a portentous secret. Around the time she made the painting, Juliette ran away to Paris with a married middle-aged painter. She spent months working on another masterpiece to show at the International Surrealist Exhibition of 1938, only to remove it from the show after one night. Then she died tragically in a fire, and the painting was destroyed. Fifty years later, Patrick and Caroline investigate the circumstances of the fire and how it might tie in to a murder. VERDICT Will appeal to those who enjoyed The Girls in Navy Blue by Alix Rickloff, which also uses alternating perspectives and dual timelines. Both novels deal with an apparent death and an investigation into the event.—Victoria Kollar

Library Journal

★ 2024-04-20
Captivated by a lost surrealist painting, a young woman begs, borrows, and steals to bring it—and its artist—to light.

In 1938, a young British expatriate, Juliette Willoughby, exhibited her only painting at the famous International Surrealist Exhibition in Paris for a single night, stirring much interest before mysteriously withdrawing it from the exhibit; when she and her artist lover perished in a fire shortly thereafter, the painting and its secrets were presumed lost. In 1991, Caroline Cooper, a young art history student at Cambridge, decides to write her master’s thesis on sphinxes in surrealist art; at the urging of her mentor, she agrees to include Juliette Willoughby’s “Self-Portrait as Sphinx”—if she can find enough material to explore, considering that the painting was presumably lost in the fire that also killed its artist. In the present day, Caroline, now a world-famous expert on Juliette Willoughby’s painting, is on stage in Dubai to authenticate that same lost painting, recently auctioned for 42 million pounds. Lloyd’s novel interweaves the stories of these three distinct time periods to create an elegant tapestry—and a novel of love, suspense, family secrets, Egyptology, surrealism, and corruption. Above all, it is a novel of women. At the heart of Juliette’s story, and of Caroline’s story, lie some pointed questions: Why is it only the men who are remembered as great artists, as great academics? What would it look like to center a woman’s story within the typically masculine worlds of art and auction? Some may be put off by the constant switching among timelines and narrators, and the somewhat sensational sideline of the Dubai section, but for those readers with the patience to peel back the layers, the novel will not disappoint. A must for fans of Kate Morton.

A delightful puzzle box of a novel.

Kirkus Reviews