The Muralist
A Novel
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4.0 • 29 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
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
Customer Reviews
A tale too close to home
This story was hard to get into at first.
For me it felt at times as if it was written about today. The politics both then and now are so divisive, so hard to fathom, and still compel people to do drastic things to make the world take notice.
The twists of the story, inclusion of notable people at that time made it all so believable, so sad, yet so rewarding.
It drag in some places
The story is not exactly fast paced. The Tante’s letters from France were a stretch, putting unrealistic demands on a young woman that led to a breakdown. It made me angry. I don’t like to be made angry when I read.