A Tale of Artists, Love, Identity & Deception.

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I was underwhelmed by Jessie Burton's first, hugely successful novel,The Miniaturist. So I approached this book with a certain degree of caution. But I was totally won over by this cleverly concocted tale of love and loss, identity and deception, the intrinsic and monetary value of art and the power of grief,set in two separate time periods.

Odelle Bastien finds herself in her dream job, working at a London art gallery by day and writing stories in her spare time. She meets her mysterious employer, Marjorie Quick, and soon becomes the older woman's protégée. And confidante.

When Odelle's boyfriend Laurie brings a painting owned by his late mother to the gallery for evaluation, Marjorie reacts curiously and refuses to engage with other staff about it. But she starts demanding information about the painting's provenance, Laurie's connections to the artist and how his mother came to be in possession of it. Marjorie reveals to Odelle that she has a terminal illness and so begins a quest for the truth and a race against time for Odelle to discover just who Marjorie and Laurie really are and the extent of their connection to each other and the painting.

This is a compelling story, beautifully plotted and skilfully constructed with fabulous period detail of life in 1930s Spain during the tumultuous and dangerous time of the Spanish Civil War. It also evokes a believable portrayal of life in 1960s London when immigration from the Caribbean islands first started to become prevalent. The experiences of Odelle and her friends from Trinidad and the prejudices they faced at work and in everyday life are set out in an easy-to-read but hard-to-forget way.

This is a book that can be enjoyed on many levels;it can be taken as a good yarn, well told or, as I think it should be, as a tale with dark, deeper meaning; a lesson to us all on prejudice and its consequences. It will stay with me for a long time and I think I will probably read it again. Very glad I tried it.

The narration is good, particularly the sections involving Odelle's voice. Some more variety in the tone of voice would have been nice but it did not spoil my overall appreciation of the book.

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4 people found this helpful

Enjoyable

loved this storyline, enjoyed while in lockdown. people standing up for, what they believe in

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Very well written, and read.

Really enjoyed this book.
It made me want to use my exercise bike just to listen to it!

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Lovely story. Great characters. Worth a listen!

Lovely story. Great characters...especially the fabulous Odelle.
The story flits across countries and across decades.
A great twist too!
Worth a listen!

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Engrossing and moving story

The interweaving of the two stories was well done. the mystery and suspense was well held. you cared about the main characters. The power of creating art, whether literature or painting, was well expressed. The narration was quite good too but perhaps two voices might have worked better.

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Took a while to get into, but was worth the wait

It takes a while for the plot to get to a point it is interwoven enough to really grip you, but when you are gripped the story is great

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Compelling listen

Despite struggling in places with the frequent changes in the point of view character, I enjoyed this story and found myself looking forward to my listening times so I could learn a little more about the unraveling history. Maybe the plot was a little predictable but I think it added to the overall charm of the book. The narrator did a good job of contributing to this overall enjoyable listen.

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Really interesting story

I do enjoy books which has something to do with London. Even more this book not only was nice story but gave historical information and some about Spain. I always think how narrators change voices so perfectly. This was excellent one.

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Excellent

Even better than the miniaturist and the narrator was outstanding. Excellent audio book - really enjoyed it!

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Superbly narrated

An excellent story that interweaves different generations and how they are connected. This is expertly done but what is even better is the narration. Cathy Tyson takes on all the characters from different parts of the world, seamlessly giving each one a different voice. Her delivery really enhanced the enjoyment of this book.

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