?Allison Amend is a gifted storyteller ? no, more than gifted. Her writing is powerful enough to create its own kind of weather. Her characters are so real it"s as if you could reach between the pages and shake hands with them.? ?Hannah Tinti, author of The Good Thief Richly drawn and sharply observed, A Nearly Perfect Copy is a smart, funny, and affecting novel of family and forgery that brilliantly conjures the rarified international art world. Elmira Howells has a loving family and a distinguished career at an elite Manhattan auction house. But after a tragic loss throws her into emotional crisis, she pursues a reckless course of action that jeopardizes her personal and professional success. Meanwhile, talented artist Gabriel Connois wearies of remaining at the margins of the capricious Parisian art scene. Desperate for recognition, he embarks on a scheme that threatens everything he?s worked for. As these narratives converge, with disastrous consequences, A Nearly Perfect Copy boldly challenges our presumptions about originality and authenticity, loss and replacement, and the perilous pursuit of perfection.