First published 2015
Alizee Benoit vanishes without explanation from New York City in 1940. The promising American painter leaves behind her Jewish family trapped in occupied France, her powerful ally Eleanor Roosevelt, and her circle of artist friends including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Lee Krasner. Seventy years later, her great-niece Danielle Abrams works at Christie's auction house when she discovers mysterious paintings concealed behind works by those now-famous Abstract Expressionist artists. The hidden canvases may contain clues to her aunt's fate. As Danielle investigates, she uncovers the political turmoil and refugee crisis that shaped Alizee's final days. The search forces both women to confront how individual lives collide with historical forces and whether art can serve as resistance against evil.
Genres: art, historical-fiction, 20th-century, suspense, mystery, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: France, New York City
Period: 1940, 2010s
352 pages · Paperback · HarperCollins Publishers