Decades later, Thomas, now a world-renowned artist, reveals the existence of a portrait of himself with Alice and Natalie from that fateful summer. The sisters themselves have disappeared without a trace. And Thomas is torn between taking the secrets of the girls to the grave, or using the painting to resurrect the past before it closes up on them all for good…
Comment: This is another historical dual timed story that interested me and this month I finally got it and read it.
In this book we have the story of Thomas Byber, a known artist who suddenly claims there's another one of his paintings he wants to sell, this after decades of not painting anything new. The people in charge of finding two missing pieces of the painting, however, seriously doubt exactly why the missing painting has been so out of the radar of all critics and experts.
One of those people is Denny Finch, a man who made his career studying the artist Thomas Byber and the other is Stephen Jameson, a brilliant art expert who has faced seriously damaging career stumbles. Can these two uncover the secret behind the suddenly discovered painting and what is the role of sisters Natalie and Alice Kessler, the subjects of the painting along Byber himself?
I should say this is an intriguing story and my favorite part of the book was to see if there was any other huge secret waiting to be uncovered in relation to the painting. However, this book is more focused on the human relationships and the character's emotions than in the backstory so, for me, it was a little disappointing to being sent in a direction and after all the biggest secret yet to be revealed wasn't that amazing - I kind of suspected beforehand.
The story actually starts with the story of why the painting came to existence ans we learn of some clues about how Thomas Byber met the Kessler sisters in the past and why he painted them. I confess that, unlike the majority of times I read dual timed stories, I really liked being in this "past"scenario of the 60s. The characters were interesting, the little steps they took and the atmosphere surrounding them was mysterious and I liked learning things a little bit at a time.
Since this is a story where we alternate in reading from the past scenario and the present one, there are obviously chapters set in the present. It wasn't as interesting for me to read this part. I think that, in part, the reason was the lack if interest I had for Stephen and Denny, the to main characters we follow in the "present" scenes.
Denny is a widowed investigator/professor and although his personality was interesting enough, it was still difficult to want to spend time in his company... as for Stephen, I could commiserate with his work related problems and how that must have made him feel but he was a little intense. Then, the mix of these two together, their little quirks and ways of being mixed together just didn't add to a very appealing combination and I was looking for to read their parts quickly so they could be over...
Thankfully, the action was moving alone nicely around half way through and it got more and more interesting as time went by and we discovered some things, not only about the characters from the past but also why they would matter now too.
As I've said, there is one last secret about the painter Thomas which is only revealed in the end but I suspected what it was. I wouldn't say this is the most innovative or mysterious plot to be described in terms of historical fiction books but overall, it was good enough to read and enjoy.
I could write more about certain details but for those interested in reading, the less one knows, the better. The writing itself could be a little more edited and the characterization could use some refinement but all things considered, this book provided a good amount of entertainment for certain.
Grade: 7/10
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