Book cover image You Wish by Lia Weston.
‘This is what people want for wedding pictures – roses, churches, pubs and hilltops.’ If that is your wish too, then go to Ignis Fatuus, a company founded by Tom Lash and housed in a converted warehouse. Better known as IF, this organisation can provide you with photographs of impeccable quality depicting, within ethical limits, anything you may desire. for example, If you want to have a photograph of yourself holding a graduation certificate while dressed in the gown and hat of the university of your choice then you can order it.
Tom’s business prospers as word of mouth spreads about a service that is so much more than photoshopping. But the business needs financing and managing so Tom has two partners who run that side of things and do not always see eye to eye with Tom.
Lia Weston lets Tom tell his own story and in the process presents her readers with challenging ethical questions, some relating to the business of IF, some relating to personal relationships. However, Weston is at her best when she describes with wry humour the hullabaloo at a birthday party, or the events at the launch of an art exhibition: ‘Some things at least are consistent in art circles: captions that make no sense, people who wear green-rimmed glasses…’
IF could not exist without Tom’s superb artistic skills. His family and friends bemoan the fact that such a gifted person is wasting his talents on a questionable commercial product rather than producing great works of art. They do not know that Tom is the painter of some the city’s beautiful graffiti and uses that form of art as a secret emotional outlet.
One of the things that gets Tom into trouble is that he has acute observational abilities not uncommon in great artists. This can lead to problems when he uses them for fun, or to show off, such as when he inadvertently identifies someones husband:
‘…and the guy in the yellow shirt’s either organising a surprise party or having an affair…he’s disappeared at least three times in the last twenty minutes. Plus he keeps getting texts but won’t check his phone in front of anyone.’
Tom has many problems with strange happenings at IF and in his personal life, all compounded by his enigmatic father, his tremendously successful mother and a precocious 14-year-old sister. He is sometimes his own worst enemy but he remains an attractive person and it’s a pleasure to follow his adventures as he romps through the pages of You Wish.
Weston’s writing style has pace and her storytelling has wit and charm, which makes this is an immensely readable book.
★★★☆
You Wish
By Lia Weston
Pan Macmillan Australia 2018
ISBN: 9781743538609
Format: Trade Paperback
Pub Date: 27/03/2018
Category: Fiction & related items / Romance
Fiction & related items / Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Imprint: Macmillan Australia
Pages: 320
