THE PICTURE BOOK

An aspiring painter loses her mother and, while seeking out the father she has never known, falls in love and finds her feet as an artist.

Patrizia Orman, 22, works at a SoHo art gallery, paints when she can, and maintains an active but unpromising dating life. She has just rejected Eric, a reliable but boring-in-bed schoolteacher who made the mistake of telling her she's got some “issues” to resolve. And indeed she does. She's suspicious of men and has never felt at home anywhere, despite having a loving mother who gave her a stable, if cash-strapped upbringing. After Mom dies unexpectedly, Patrizia's godmother fills her in on her parents' affair and surprises her with a bagful of letters and uncashed checks from her father, now a wealthy art dealer in Rome. Patrizia then flies to Italy and insinuates herself incognito into his life with the goal—an odd one, given the letters showing he cared—of hurting him, ostensibly to avenge her mother. This plan falls by the wayside as Dad champions her painting (under his tutelage, she does her best work) and treats her kindly. Meanwhile, Andrea, a handsome Italian, woos Patrizia, with much success, until she catches her father in an act of such selfishness that she is once again gripped by distrust. Love and fear duke it out, wrapping up a story not helped by distracting inconsistencies: Did she never miss her father growing up, or did she think about him all the time? When she sees the letters from her father, does she know right away who wrote them, or does it take her a while? If she has ruled out Anna as an alias, why does she then choose it?

Hyperbole and emotional wrong notes further detract from the execution of a strong premise: a shaky debut.