I have a special place in my heart for characters who are lonely enough to be duped by people who pretend to love them. I always end up reading the book with my heart in my mouth, wanting to reach into the book to warn the lonely character. Reading Invitation to a Bonfire, by Adrienne Celt, was no different—at least until the end, when the tables turned more than once. The beginning of the novel led me to think that it would be the story of people teasing and tricky a girl who just can’t blend in. But about half way through, the stakes rise sky high when a central character tries to drawn our protagonist into a murder conspiracy.
Zoya Andropova might be considered lucky. After all, she was rescued from a Soviet orphanage and brought to the United States in the early 1920s. The organization that rescued Zoya and other children paid for Zoya to attend the elite girls boarding school, the Donne School, in New Jersey. Even though she is cared for materially, Zoya just can’t blend in. She was too old to learn how to be an American. So she was ignored and teased, even after she started working as a gardener for the school post-graduation. When the handsome, talented Russian author, Lev Orlov, is hired by the school and seduces Zoya, it seems like a turning point in her lonely life. The only problem is that Lev is married.
Because Zoya has mostly grown up without love or a affection, she is an easy mark for characters without scruples. Early in the novel, some of her fellow students blackmail her into taking part in a séance. Zoya ultimately takes part because it’s a rare opportunity to be part of a group. The experience isn’t enough to prepare her for the wiles of Lev Orlov, who she meets in 1930. Lev completely bowls her over. All I wanted to do as I read these chapters was shout at Zoya, who desperately needed to learn self-preservation even before Lev asks her to do something terrible. I wanted to shake and and tell her that no one who loved her would ask her to do what Lev asks. A lot of the tension in the latter half of this book comes from wondering if Zoya will do what Lev asks or if she’ll open her eyes and get the hell out of that relationship.
Invitation to a Bonfire is written in documents. There are sections from Zoya’s diary that alternate with airmail letters from Lev, as he returns to the Soviet Union to reclaim a novel that was lost during the Revolution. We also get to see an “oral history” of Vera Orlova, Orlov’s wife. Because this history comes courtesy of the local police department, we know that something criminal happens to one of the major players in this book. I started reading faster and faster the closer I got to the end because I was completely sucked into this book. Invitation to a Bonfire was amazing.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration. It will be released 5 June 2018.