On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art today worth over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there s more to this crime than meets the eye. Making a living reproducing famous artworks for a popular online retailer and desperate to improve her situation, Claire is lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a ...
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On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art today worth over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there s more to this crime than meets the eye. Making a living reproducing famous artworks for a popular online retailer and desperate to improve her situation, Claire is lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting a Degas masterpiece stolen from the Gardner Museum in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But when that very same long-missing Degas painting is delivered to Claire s studio, she begins to suspect that it may itself be a forgery. Her desperate search for the truth leads Claire into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since the late nineteenth century may be the only evidence that can now save her life."
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Very interesting, intriguing novel. Great historical story that keeps the reader guessing to the end.
Deborah T
Sep 17, 2014
Good Read
This was a book club selection and I really enjoyed it. It based loosely on the real heist of millions of dollars of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston in 1990. There are Faustian bargains, deceit, romance and ambition enough to keep the pace. I learned a lot about the art of forgery and how the passion of artists often result in a "deal with the devil".