Description
Description
An enigmatic painting. The powerful woman who created it. Will they both be lost to time? A riveting thriller from the bestselling author of The Art Forger. In an utterly compelling novel about an enigmatic painting, B. A. Shapiro tells a story filled with thrilling plot twists, taking us deep inside a circle of famous painters in late-nineteenth-century Paris, centering on the anguished Impressionist artist Berthe Morisot--the one woman in their midst who never got her due--and the story of Morisot's great-great-great-great granddaughter, Tamara Rubin, who has inherited Édouard Manet's Party on the Seine, a painting that completely upends her life.
When Tamara inherits Party, she discovers a long-hidden family history replete with unanswered questions: How had it been stolen by the Nazis? How had the painting managed to survive three disasters that destroyed every other artwork around it? And most of all, why had she never known about her ancestor, Berthe Morisot? As the painting begins to metamorphose into darker and more terrifying versions of itself, Tamara's ordinary life--until now untouched by art--is thrown into turmoil. What wounds and resentments plagued Morisot, and to what lengths will her spirit go for revenge? The Lost Masterpiece is a story of love, adultery, betrayal, family secrets, and the grueling birth of Impressionism, taking the reader on a whirlwind adventure from the streets of Paris in the late 1800s and the studio Berthe Morisot shared with Manet, Degas, and Renoir at a time when it was improper for women to paint seriously to the present day. Shapiro brings Berthe's world to life, tracing her work through generations of descendants and introducing us to a painter as brilliant and original as her male counterparts. Across 150 years of triumphs, struggles, passions, animosities, and malevolence, Shapiro does what she always does so brilliantly: shows us how art can enliven our senses and enlarge our world.
When Tamara inherits Party, she discovers a long-hidden family history replete with unanswered questions: How had it been stolen by the Nazis? How had the painting managed to survive three disasters that destroyed every other artwork around it? And most of all, why had she never known about her ancestor, Berthe Morisot? As the painting begins to metamorphose into darker and more terrifying versions of itself, Tamara's ordinary life--until now untouched by art--is thrown into turmoil. What wounds and resentments plagued Morisot, and to what lengths will her spirit go for revenge? The Lost Masterpiece is a story of love, adultery, betrayal, family secrets, and the grueling birth of Impressionism, taking the reader on a whirlwind adventure from the streets of Paris in the late 1800s and the studio Berthe Morisot shared with Manet, Degas, and Renoir at a time when it was improper for women to paint seriously to the present day. Shapiro brings Berthe's world to life, tracing her work through generations of descendants and introducing us to a painter as brilliant and original as her male counterparts. Across 150 years of triumphs, struggles, passions, animosities, and malevolence, Shapiro does what she always does so brilliantly: shows us how art can enliven our senses and enlarge our world.
About the Author
About the Author
B. A. Shapiro is the bestselling author of The Collector's Apprentice, The Muralist, and The Art Forger, which won the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Boston Authors Society Award for Fiction, among other honors. Her books have been selected as community reads in numerous cities and translated throughout the world. Before becoming a novelist, she taught sociology at Tufts University and creative writing at Northeastern University. She and her husband, Dan, divide their time between Boston and Florida.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
"B.A. Shapiro has painted a truly marvelous novel of passion -- passion for art, for creativity, for love and for the truth. With one deft stroke after another she evokes the past and connects one of the most important times in Impressionism to a moving present day search for roots, connection and meaning. Riveting, compelling and intensely powerful."--M.J. Rose, bestselling author of The Museum of Mysteries
"How could you not be enraptured with a brilliant new Shapiro novel showcasing what she does best--showing us how art shapes our world. Real life painter Berthe Morisot shared a studio with Impressionists Manet, Degas, Renoir and other luminaries, but being a woman, she never got the attention she deserved. But here, Morisot haunts both a stolen masterwork painting and its modern day owner, crafting a story of love, scandal and revenge, into a triumphant page turner that's part art history, part ghost story and totally original."--Caroline Leavitt, bestselling author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder
"Once again, B.A Shapiro is in a league of her own, this time taking us on a riveting ride into the world of stolen art with her latest page-turner The Lost Masterpiece. Readers of art history will devour this book filled with love, loss, passion, ambition, and resilience, and will especially delight in the cameos of real artists and their art. And Shapiro, with her signature twists and turns and exquisite descriptions and timing, will always have the last stroke."--Lisa Barr, NYT bestselling author of Woman on Fire
"With deft prose and thrilling plot twists, The Lost Masterpiece is an exquisite feat of storytelling. Shapiro renders the range and nuance of young Berthe Morisot's bold creative vision in an exhilarating novel of restless passion, family secrets, and the power of art to transcend time."--Dawn Tripp, bestselling author of Georgia and Jackie
"Smart and entrancing... Shapiro infuses with supernatural elements as she orchestrates acts of passion, daring, and determination, mixing compelling art history with zesty fabrication, full-blown romance, and cleverly devised suspense."--Booklist
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Algonquin Books
Pub date:
2025-06-17
Length:
448 pages
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