April Vogt, a Sotheby's expert on continental furniture, is sent to Paris to assess the furnishings in a decrepit apartment that hasn't been unlocked in decades. The assignment comes just in time as April's husband confesses to a one-night stand. April finds the apartment is filled floor to ceiling with priceless furniture pieces and works of art once owned by a Parisian demimondaine, Marthe de Florian. One particular portrait, painted by the Master of Swish, Giovanni Boldini, captures April's attention. She yearns to know more about the woman in the painting and stumbles upon journals in the apartment. Aided by an irresistibly handsome French lawyer for the estate, April pores through journal entries discovering this forgotten woman lived a life among the world's most renowned writers and artists. April connects with Marthe's struggles, while working through her own life problems.
VERDICT With its well-developed, memorable characters and the author's skillful transitioning between story lines, finding similarities in the lives of two women decades apart, this stunning and fascinating debut will capture the interest of a wide audience but particularly those interested in stories about women behind famous men like Melanie Benjamin's The Aviator's Wife or Nancy Horan's Under the Wide and Starry Sky. Highly recommended.
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