The Muralist

A historical novel about a young American artist who secretly joins the French Resistance during World War II while uncovering a family mystery through her passion for painting.

“B. A. Shapiro captivated us in 2012 with her ‘addictive’ novel The Art Forger. Now, she’s back with another thrilling tale from the art world.” —Entertainment Weekly

Alizée Benoit is a young American artist in New York during World War II who dreams of creating murals, but struggles to gain recognition in the male-dominated art world. She becomes involved with the French Resistance and secretly helps Jewish refugees escape Nazi persecution, while her paintings become increasingly personal and political.  When she vanishes in New York City in 1940, no one knows what happened to her. Not her Jewish family living in German-occupied France. Not her artistic patron and political compatriot, Eleanor Roosevelt. Not her close-knit group of friends, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Lee Krasner.  Some seventy years later, her great-niece, Danielle Abrams, while working at Christie’s auction house, uncovers enigmatic paintings hidden behind works by those now-famous Abstract Expressionist artists. Do they hold answers to the questions surrounding her missing aunt? As Danielle investigates her family’s past, she uncovers Alizée’s hidden life, her connection to the European resistance, and the painful choices she made during the war. “Vibrant and suspenseful . . . Like The Art Forger, this new story takes us into the heart of what it means to be an artist.” —The Washington Post