The Portrait of a Mirror

April 5, 2021
Set in the upper echelons of New York City and Philadelphia, Joukovsky’s droll if uneven debut reads like Gossip Girl all grown up. Young tech CEO and certified “golden boy” Charles Wesley Range IV shares a sprawling Manhattan loft with his stunning, quick-witted enterprise architect wife, Diana Whalen, where the almost-happy newlyweds mount a series of passive-aggressive maneuvers against one another. Meanwhile, 30-something Vivien Floris, a poised visiting curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, prepares to marry Dale McBride, a dashing consultant and aspiring novelist who lives in Philadelphia. While Diana and Dale are assigned to work on the same project, grade school crushes Vivien and Wes reunite for a fateful night. As the drama unfolds, the characters’ affairs get predictably tangled. The author uses the backdrop of Vivien’s exhibition on Ovid’s Metamorphosis and the figure of Narcissus for astute observations on the core characters’ self-involvement, though the story feels weighed down by too many less-rewarding tangents about professional mishaps and exchanges between the peripheral players, who find their incestuous social world alternately beneficial and stultifying. In the words of a mutual friend of the couples, “The one percent is such a small place.” While readers will enjoy the view of an insular, rarified world, they’ll also wonder what the fuss is about. Agent: Sarah Fuentes, Fletcher and Co.

Starred review from May 1, 2021
Privilege can be difficult to perceive in oneself. For a group of charming, intelligent, cultured, beautiful characters jetting between Manhattan, Paris, and other refined destinations, privilege has become so entrenched in their worldview it rarely deserves a second thought. But Joukovsky's debut reminds readers that privilege doesn't keep you safe from malaise, from boredom, from realizing that you might actually hate your spouse. Highlighting the rarefied air of tech startups, management consulting, visiting curatorships, and Connecticut private schools, Joukovsky follows four individuals through a modern retelling of the Narcissus myth. Diana and Wes have been married for some time, and Dale and Vivien are planning their wedding. When a series of chance meetings, work assignments, and an old boarding-school crush come to light, the four have to decide whether to break their partners' hearts or to let theirs be broken. Joukovsky's prose, like the best parts of Jonathan Franzen's Freedom or Donna Tartt's The Secret History, demands the reader's fullest attention. Clever and witty and intricate, Joukovsky's voice emphasizes her characters' best features, like candlelight in a luxurious hotel bar. Fans of Cristina Alger's The Darlings or the show Succession will devour this richly-layered portrait of two couples caught at a crossroads.

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