Rebecca Scherm

Fraud and deception are at the crux of Rebecca Scherm’s audacious debut novel, Unbecoming. Grace hails from the tiny, inconsequential town of Garland, Tennessee, though when we first encounter her she’s employed at Zanuso et Filles, an establishment in Paris, where she repairs antiques and jewelry, and where she’s known as Julie from California. The various stages that end with Grace from Tennessee transformed into Julie from California are the subject of numerous and lengthy show more flashbacks that take us many miles and many years from Grace’s lonely and penurious Tennessee childhood and adolescence, to Grace on the run in Central Europe, brutally robbed of a suitcase full of money, and with nothing to fall back on but guts, daring and an uncanny ability to reinvent herself. Grace’s close childhood cronies are her friend, lover and eventual husband Riley, and Riley’s buddy Allston (or Alls). There are the usual scrapes and mishaps of the childhood and teen years, but the serious trouble starts while they are sharing a house together in Garland and feeling the pinch of independent living. It is Grace who hatches a plan to steal artefacts from the Josephus Wynne Historic Estate, convincing her friends that slack security and an abundance of undocumented hundred-year-old relics sitting on open shelves and desks throughout the building will make the job a breeze. Eventually Grace comes to recognize the plan as folly, and gets out of town before the robbery—to attend an art history course in Prague—but not before she takes with her the most valuable artefact of all, which she stole ahead of schedule with the help of Alls. In Grace’s absence the boys go through with the plan, it all goes wrong, and they are arrested, convicted and sentenced to several years in prison. Grace’s fear, living as Julie in Paris, is that once released, they will track her down and exact revenge for what she believes they perceive as her double cross. Grace’s story is something of a whirlwind, but one that proceeds in fits and starts. Scherm’s account of Grace’s early life goes into minute detail—her affection for Riley’s family, her lack of emotional connection with her own family, her education, her eventual betrayal of all she holds dear. Grace is certainly interesting and the time we spend with her is warranted. The problem is that most of the other characters are not as interesting, and we spend a lot of time with them as well. It is also a book that occupies that uncomfortable middle ground, the no-man’s land midway between two genres, literary and suspense. Scherm’s novel is neither one nor the other, but incorporates elements of both, which sometimes makes for an uneasy mix. Make no mistake though, Unbecoming is an impressive novel, more so when one considers it is the author’s first. It is an inspired entertainment, if a bit long-winded. But when a writer is this poised and talented, can there be any doubt that with her next book she will find a way to strike that delicate balance? show less

Alfred Hitchcock would have snapped up the rights to this novel if he were still alive. Everything he loved is on the menu: one word title; iconic locales (Paris, New York, Garland,Tennesee); setting (the art world); enigmatic female main character (Grace--even her name has the right flavour) with dysfunctional childhood; conflict (Grace and some male friends plot the theft of a local painting--only she takes off for Paris with the painting) and jeopardy (one of them, her ex-boyfriend, is show more out of jail and looking for her).

But it’s not a bad thing that ol’ misogynistic Hitch isn’t around. Don’t get me wrong: the witty banter and quotidian ephemera between slices of noir drama have not yet been equaled, in my opinion. That perfect prototype, The 39 Steps, set the standard for all that followed. But after all the heart-stopping edits, sexually fraught dialogue and intense close-ups, there isn’t an entry in Hitchcock’s visual lexicon for Grace other than bad. There’s a reason his best films were in black and white.

Rebecca Scherm has accomplished that nearly impossible feat: she has successfully realized a female morally ambiguous character minus the abnormal psychology. Neither demon nor angel--too often the only choices for female leads--Grace is actually an ordinary person making not unreasonable decisions as life unfurls its options.

Scherm’s research into jewelry produces Antique Road Show style exposition of objets d’art I found fascinating and also helpful in understanding Grace.

An unsettling, engrossing read! Will definitely read more of Rebecca Scherm’s work. Highly recommended to all. show less

Rebecca Scherm’s A House Between Earth and the Moon blends speculative science fiction with a deeply human drama, asking readers to confront the price of ambition, family loyalty, and our growing dependence on technology.
The story follows Alex Welch-Peters, a scientist whose obsession with creating super-algae to combat climate change has consumed his life and distanced him from his family. When Sensus, a massive tech corporation, offers him the chance to continue his research on show more Parallaxis—a luxury space station built for billionaires—Alex and a small group of fellow scientists take the leap. But Parallaxis is far from a paradise. Instead of stability, the pioneers face relentless demands, isolation, and the creeping realization that they are pawns in Sensus’s much larger experiment: developing an algorithm that can predict and manipulate human behavior.
On Earth, Alex’s family struggles in his absence, particularly his teenage daughter Mary Agnes, who longs to join her father but is left navigating adolescence in a collapsing world dominated by wildfire and invasive technology. Meanwhile, Tess, a psychologist hired by Sensus, watches the Pioneers obsessively—until her curiosity pulls her into their orbit, blurring the line between observer and participant.
Scherm’s novel shines in its exploration of human relationships under pressure and the ways corporations commodify both people and ideals. It’s an unsettling mirror of our modern world, where technological ambition often outpaces ethical reflection. The premise is compelling, and the book raises sharp, timely questions about climate change, surveillance, and the sacrifices we justify in the name of love or progress.
That said, the execution may test a reader’s patience. The pacing is deliberately slow, lingering on character introspection and psychological tension more than action or resolution. While this allows deeper insight into the cast, the lack of momentum and a somewhat unfocused ending may leave some readers unsatisfied, especially those expecting a tightly driven sci-fi thriller.
Ultimately, A House Between Earth and the Moon is less about futuristic spectacle and more about the flaws, obsessions, and contradictions that make us human. For readers who enjoy thoughtful, character-driven speculative fiction with a strong contemporary edge, this novel offers a chilling yet intimate reflection on the costs of progress. show less

The best lies were the simplest and made the most sense, in the mind and in the mouth. Those lies were the easiest to swallow. Page 1

The life you think you live, the life you want to live, and the life you actually live are sometimes stretched as far apart from one another that they are barely an identifiable beacon to each other. The question is what do we do to fill those larger than life gaps in between our lives? Grace has filled that yawning emptiness with lies that roll off her tongue show more smoother than water. The person she is and the person she portrays are as different as night and day, to the point where she no longer even recognizes the truth anymore. Try as she might to escape the crime that becomes the unravelling of the image she has tried her whole life to protect, the past will catch up to her - it is just matter of which version of the past will it be.

Rebecca Scherm's debut novel of the destructive nature of our need to be something we are not, our desperate longing to be accepted and the poisonous repercussions of lust denied are all wrapped up in the story of Grace's life as she moves from small town America to the complex metropolitan of Paris. What happens between who she was to who she becomes is fascinating and perfectly complimented with the world of arts, antiques, forgery and reproductions. A page-turning mystery about the dance of deception we tell ourselves and ultimately inflict upon the people in our lives, Unbecoming is a thoroughly engaging read for anyone who has felt tempted, caught, trapped, and succumbed to the lies we tell ourselves and those around us. Recommended. show less