This book pulled me in so amazingly fast I’m pretty sure I got reading whiplash. It was awesome (except for Evelyn, I would like to flatten her nose a couple of times in rapid succession, although, I think that that was the purpose of the character).

It’s the story of Molly and Georgina. Molly is an art curator who is passionate about her job and about diversifying the museum where she works for’s collection.

And when Georgina’s father dies she is put in charge of a foundation that sometimes supports the museum. Also, she has to pack up her father’s house, which is near the museum. She comes to a painting that is neither going to the museum with her father’s other art, or willed to her, and so she enlist’s Molly’s help (through the entirely unpleasant director of the museum, Evelyn) to find out who painted the portrait of Georgina’s ancestor and why.

Needless to say, they get closer as they work together to solve the painting’s mystery, but, they both have issues (of different sorts) and so the question is, can they overcome their pasts to enjoy their present and future?

What was most impressive about this novel was the emotion throughout the book, the whole novel seemed to vibrate with all sorts of different emotions. Especially the stuff that was set in the 1800s, which I loved.

It was an amazing book, complex and compelling.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

Review by From Bella To Ylva

Anna Larner – Author of Highland Fling, Hooper Street and Love’s Portrait.

Finalist in the 2019 Foreword INDIES Book of The Year, 2019 Rainbow Awards and 2018 Golden Crown Literary Society Awards.

Featured in women.com, DIVA magazine, Gscene magazine, AfterEllen (Top Ten Summer Reads of 2017) and Publishers Weekly.