First published 2016
Annie McDee works as a chef in London and barely makes ends meet in her rundown flat. At thirty-one, she's nursing wounds from a recent breakup when she takes up with a new lover who seems wrong for her. She browses a secondhand shop looking for his birthday present and spots an old painting covered in dust. Annie spends what little money she has on the artwork and cooks an elaborate birthday meal. He never shows up. Now Annie owns the painting and begins to wonder if it might be worth more than she paid. Multiple parties start chasing her down, each desperate to claim the artwork. An exiled Russian oligarch wants it. So does a greedy sheikha and a corrupt art dealer. Annie searches for the painting's true identity and stumbles into dark chapters of European history. Along the way, she might find love again.
Genres: romance, mystery, contemporary, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: London
Period: 21st-century
512 pages · Paperback · Vintage