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The Fragments Paperback – September 10, 2019

by Toni Jordan (Author)

4.1 263 ratings

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Inga Karlson died in a fire in New York in the 1930s, leaving behind three things: a phenomenally successful first novel, the scorched fragments of a second book―and a literary mystery that has captivated generations of readers.

Nearly fifty years later, Brisbane bookseller Caddie Walker is waiting in line to see a Karlson exhibition, featuring the famous fragments. A charismatic older woman quotes a phrase from the Karlson fragments that Caddie knows does not exist. Caddie is jolted from her sleepy life in 1980s Brisbane, and driven to uncover the truth about this fascinating literary mystery.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Text Publishing Company
Publication date

September 10, 2019
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1925773132
ISBN-13

978-1925773132
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"I so loved The Fragments by the amazing Toni Jordan. A thrilling, atmospheric, unforgettable story. I didn’t want it to end."―Liane Moriarty

“Jordan’s dialogue is quick and witty, her writing is sharp, and the plot is fast-paced… A funny, pleasant look at love, forgiveness, and second chances.”―Kirkus on Our Tiny Useless Hearts

“A witty and wise family saga…a small treasure.”―Kirkus/i> [starred] on Nine Days

“Jordan elegantly captures the hopes and despairs of three generations of a troubled family, offering a diverting read that will appeal to fans of sophisticated historical fiction and book club members.”―Library Journal on Nine Days

“In spare but rich prose, Jordan shows all the love, fear, tenderness, disappointment, joy and sadness any life could hold."―Shelf Awareness on Nine Days

About the Author

Toni Jordan is the author of five novels. The international bestseller Addition was a Richard and Judy Bookclub pick and was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Fall Girl was published internationally and has been optioned for film, and Nine Days was awarded Best Fiction at the Indie Awards, was shortlisted for the ABIA Best General Fiction award and was named in Kirkus' top 10 Historical Novels of 2013. Our Tiny, Useless Hearts was shortlisted for the Voss Literary Prize 2017 and longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award 2018. Toni’s latest book is the literary mystery The Fragments. She lives in Melbourne.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Text Publishing Company; Reprint edition (September 10, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1925773132
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1925773132
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,877,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #29,202 in Historical Mystery
- #42,528 in Amateur Sleuths
- #63,004 in Romantic Comedy (Books)

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4.1 263 ratings

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Tina in Florida

Interesting literary mystery set in Australia

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2019

My Recommendation

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This is a literary mystery set primarily in Brisbane Australia. The genre and locale hooked me right away so I promptly requested a copy from NetGalley.

Imagine a famous author who publishes a ground breaking literary masterpiece, one people talk about and analyze over the years. The author has another book about to published, people eagerly awaiting the story, when a horrific tragedy strikes. The author dies in a warehouse fire, the flames destroying all copies of the latest book. Only fragments are recovered and her mourning fans and scholars are left with scraps of sentences, forever wondering about this lost masterpiece. That is the story of Inga Karlson, the author who became a legend.

The fragments of her manuscript along with photos of Inga and her personal belongings are exhibited around the world for decades. Loyal fans and scholars line up to view this exhibit, some of the devotees young enough to be Inga’s grandchildren. She is epic.

Cadence “Caddie” Walker’s obsession with Inga Karlson’s lost manuscript has her standing in line in the blazing Brisbane heat, awaiting the opening of the exhibition so she may view this collection. In line near Caddie is an old woman named Rachel Lehrer. She speaks with Caddie, asking what her favorite lines were from the scraps left of the book. In return, Rachel “quotes” this sentence fragment of the unpublished book.

And in the end, all we have are the hours and the days, the minutes and the way we bear them, the seconds spent on this earth and the number of them that truly mattered.

But that last part wasn’t written anywhere. Is it the imaginary conjuring of an old woman?

The book is divided in three parts. I thought the first part had a few slow spots, certainly not enough for me to abandon the book. I was very intrigued with the perspective back in the 1930’s about Rachel Lehrer and her family. When the story took that reminiscing turn to the past I was completely engaged. It hops with a fluid transition from 1986 and Caddie Walker’s obsession to the 1930’s story line. You don’t see what one has to do with another until part two of the book. Then the puzzle connects.

Nearing the end of part two I was on the fence regarding my feelings for Caddie. She was about to take up with someone I know isn’t a good person; someone who will use her up. I’m torn with the entwining stories of Rachel and Inga in the past and the Caddie/Jamie/Philip mess in the 1980’s. Caddie needs to be shaken by the shoulders as I, the reader, clearly knows what needs to be done here!

There is mystery, love, a snapshot of domestic violence in the 1930 era and a satisfying conclusion to the story. Also, a surprise about several characters in part three of the book. I would like to know what became of a few supporting characters but there certainly was a clear resolution. I would read more by this author.

Adventurous setting for me, Kookaburra and Queensland and Brisbane……I am armchair traveling again.

Food stuff: Chili Lentil Soup, pizzas of Margherita and vegetarian varieties, sundaes, cakes, chicken a la King.

Linking up with the 2019 Aussie Author Challenge, Girlxoxo for the Monthly Motif and Heather for April Foodies Read.

Thank you very much Netgalley for this digital copy of the book. I received this complimentary copy and was not compensated for my opinion/review.

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2019

The Fragments is the fifth novel by award-winning Australian author, Toni Jordan. For most of her life, Caddie Wilson has been enthralled by the story of her favourite author. In New York in 1935, Inga Karlson’s first novel was published and became a world-wide best-seller. Hounded by an adoring public, she withdrew into seclusion to write, but in 1939 every copy of The Days, the Minutes, her second novel, was destroyed in the warehouse fire that took her life and that of her publisher, the only people who had ever read it. Scorched fragments were all that remained.

In the first months of 1986 those Fragments are on display at Brisbane’s new State Gallery, and Caddie is waiting in a lengthy queue to see them. She knows each of them by heart, having read all there is to know about her idol. But she is stunned when another visitor to the exhibition quotes the words on a particular fragment with an extra line. It absolutely fits, but how could that be?

Almost fifty years earlier and quite by chance, nineteen-year-old waitress Rachel Lehrer meets the author of one of the few books she has loved enough to own, All Has an End. Incognito, Inga Karlson trails about New York City trying to escape the pressure from her publisher to meet the deadline for her second novel. An unlikely friendship between a farm girl and a Pulitzer prize-winner ensues.

The two narratives alternate between chapters, so Caddie’s efforts to discover the truth about the fire, the lost manuscript and that inexplicable extra line, run in tandem with the events that find rural Rachel in New York with Inga. With Nazi sympathisers, imposters, covert surveillance of a post office, and a posthumous letter, this is a gripping historical mystery with quite a few twists and red herrings to keep the reader guessing until the final pages.

Jordan’s depiction of the mid-eighties Brisbane summer is absolutely spot-on: not just the weather, the clothing, the food and drink, but also the social attitudes, the politics, the in-jokes, the leisure activities and the dialogue. And of course, the lack of mobile phones, digital records, internet and Google. It’s easy to forget how tedious doing research could be, with the microfiche being at the cutting edge of technology; and how inconvenient personal contact could be, tethered to a landline that was shared by many. Similarly, the nineteen-thirties are well-rendered with plenty of allusions anchoring it firmly in pre-war America.

Jordan gives the reader some excellent characters, most of whom have appeal despite their very human flaws; and of course a few suitably nasty ones who are meant to be despised. Caddie’s emotions affect her good judgement for a while, but she gets it right in the end. There’s some delightful banter between the characters as well as one or two lump-in-the-throat moments. Once again, Jordan shows she is a very talented author, with more than one string to her bow, and it will be interesting to see what she turns her hand to next. Recommended!

One person found this helpful

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Edwin Relf

A very good sweetie

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2018

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The twist at the end wasn't so much a twist as an expectation. Set in Brisbane in 1986 on the one hand, and in New York in the late 1830's on the other. A favourite author of the 1930 comes to a horrible end as a side event in the left-right clashes of the time - the interesting politics of which this novel does not go into. In 1986 a few bibliophiles - one baddie two goodies - chase down the story as if it is an important mystery which most of us would think was ho hum. But it is nice to wander around 1986 Brisbane, Queensland where girls carry ports (? portmanteaus) from school and there is a pervasive odour of something called Fabulon - as well as sweat. And where the central character rides her bike (bicycle) the long way around from Auchenflower way over to Dutton Park in order to catch the river ferry to Queensland University so she can walk up over the vast playing fields to the Refec (Student Union) and wander through the lovely cloisters to the Englash Department. (She could have walked from Auchenflower to the University in a fraction of the time but we enjoy the scenic route and the landscape of Queensland University is stunning.)

It is a romantic story, well written, cute plot where the mystery is solved - and there is a nice wander down memory lane.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Snapdragon

A literary mystery and a lesson in integrity

Reviewed in Australia on February 28, 2019

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In this quiet and fascinating story Caddie is working in a Brisbane bookshop after abandoning a career in academe. She goes to an exhibition - Fragments - showcasing remnants of the life of much-loved prize winning author Inga Karlson who died in a New York warehouse fire in 1939. The warehouse was full of brand new copies of Inga’s keenly awaited second novel. At the exhibition Caddie meets an elderly woman who quotes a sentence from the second novel somewhat differently from the extant scrap. Her name is Rachel Lehrer. Caddie (Cadence) was named for the lead character of the first, famous novel.

Alternating chapters chart Caddie’s increasing interest in the Karlson story in 1986 and Rachel’s story in pre-WWII US. We learn that Rachel knew Inga well. Very well. Two other people join Caddie in her interest: Jamie, who runs an antiquarian bookshop and Philip, a charming, egocentric and ruthless academic who was once Caddie’s lover. Jamie was also once Philip’s student. Philip appropriated Jamie’s work on Karlson as his own. Just as sparks between Caddie and Jamie are starting to fly, Caddie visits Philip for the first time in years and asks if the typesetter for Inga’s second book could have been female, thinking that this may account for Rachel’s knowledge of the second book. This is enough for Philip to start chasing dreams of academic glory and money and citing a family emergency, he flies to the US to see what he can find out. In the end, Caddie agrees to work on the arson angle, which involves an American Nazi, leaving Rachel and everything else to Philip. It’s beyond embarrassing for Caddie when Jamie discovers that she’s working with Philip. She also has severe doubts about forcing Rachel (when they find her) to become involved in what will be a blast of publicity worldwide.

We begin to guess the truth of what happened (which is a very nice twist) and Caddie pulls off a seriously good stunt to save Rachel from Philip and the limelight. Well written and intriguing. Gives a terrific sense of Brisbane too.

One person found this helpful

Mrs T

A good read.,

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

A good mystery with a twist at the end.

Lee W

Worth More Stars

Reviewed in Australia on September 1, 2023

Verified Purchase

Really enjoyed The Fragments. Very well written, great characters and well descripted, interesting plot. Highly recommend.

Margaret Jaffé

Australian literary fiction at it best

Reviewed in Australia on December 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

Set in Queensland, there is a very good sense of place and time. Characters are well drawn and the plot
is intriguing . The ending is most satisfying. This book is well written.
Margaret

One person found this helpful

Sarah Doolan

A Wonderful Story

Reviewed in Australia on July 13, 2023

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed this novel immensely, history, mystery, romance, and a twist at the end, what more could you ask for?
The characters are real, and the depiction of 1980s Brisbane is spot on, late 1930s NYC I can’t vouch for but it feels genuine.

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