The Artist of the Missing

A haunting novel, The Artist of the Missing is a stunning debut from Paul La Farge, both a richly imagined evocation of another world and a piercing examination of the mystery of love--beautifully illustrated by the acclaimed artist Stephen Alcorn.

Frank, a young artist, arrives in the city hoping to unravel the mystery of his parents' disappearance. He begins working as a washer of robes at a hotel for itinerant judges. There he meets and falls in love with Prudence, a forensic photographer whose pictures reveal the secrets of the dead.

When Prudence disappears, Frank sets out in search of her, a quest that leads him into the shadowy world of a revolutionary salon, then to prison, and finally to discover the city's strange secrets and the secrets of his own heart.

A visionary novel about love, loss, imagination, and despair.


About the Author

Paul La Farge (1970 - 2023) was the author of the novels The Artist of the Missing, Haussmann, or the Distinction, Luminous Airplanes, The Night Ocean, and a book of imaginary dreams, The Facts of Winter. His novels and stories "defied easy categorization", according to the New York Times. His fiction and nonfiction appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's, Conjunctions, The Believer, Bookforum, and elsewhere. He lived in upstate New York.

Stephen Alcorn studied printmaking in Italy and illustrated the Modern Library series. He is the 1998 recipient of the Carter G. Woodson Book Award.