An often intriguing tale of history, betrayal and art.
Maitland-Lewis’s (Ambition, 2013, etc.) latest book, a historical thriller with threads of comedy, follows a skilled art restorer as he traces a mysterious painting’s sordid past.
Giovanni Fabrizzi has lost his zeal for life. Recently remarried to a beautiful young woman, he can’t shake the memory of his deceased first wife. He loves his work as an art restorer in London, but finds the modern art world stifling, and longs for the past. The excitement he craves finally arrives in a wholly unexpected way, when an old painting in his studio suddenly begins to speak to him. The man in the painting identifies himself as Count Marco Lorenzo Pietro de Medici, and claims to have been painted by the great Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. Giovanni questions his own sanity until the count reveals shocking details about Giovanni’s loved ones. No longer able to ignore the count’s claims, Giovanni sets off to uncover the truth behind the painting’s history. He gets more than he bargained for when he discovers uncomfortable family secrets related to World War II, and he’s faced with a seemingly impossible decision. Giovanni’s quest is a thrilling one, particularly for readers familiar with the art world, and it’s filled with interesting historical tidbits. The author makes it seem plausible that a lost Botticelli could exist in the real world, a titillating prospect. However, the search for the fictional painting’s origins doesn’t begin until nearly two-thirds of the way through the book. Everything prior to that involves initially amusing but eventually tiresome debates between Giovanni and the count. Giovanni is also a difficult character, as his melancholy and initial indecisiveness make him a less-than-compelling hero. But readers who make it past the slow early sections won’t be disappointed by the novel’s fulfilling, warm-hearted conclusion.
An often intriguing tale of history, betrayal and art.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-0983259688
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Glyd-Evans Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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