Pub date: 3/1/22
In one sentence: Ernst Engel's Woman on Fire is a painting with a history - and now it's causing an international art scandal.

I love historical fiction that ties in art history! Barr did a wonderful job creating an art world full of intrigue, shifting alliances, and unclear motives. I loved seeing main character Jules carry out her investigation in association with senior reporter Dan. My favorite character was Ellis, famed shoe designer and son of the woman on fire herself - his desire to reclaim his family's history was so moving. And Margaux - this gallery owner is pure evil, and you'll love to hate her.

In addition to great characters, Barr spins a fast-moving, multi-layered plot with plenty of surprises. I read it in two sittings because I had to know what would happen! If you liked books like The Masterpiece, The Art Forger, and The Riviera House, definitely pick this one up!

Thank you to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review posted to Goodreads 1/7/22, to be posted to Instagram closer to pub date.

While I enjoyed the plot and characters of this novel I didn’t enjoy the authors style of writing. So,I found myself skimming until the end.

I found myself staying up late into the night to finish this one, as I just had to know what was going to happen. How the story was going to play out.

Fan girl time! I loved the first two books by Lisa Barr ( "Fugitive Colors" and "The Unbreakables" so I couldn't wait to read "Woman on Fire'. From the moment young Jules Roth leaves her mom's house to land her first job as a journalist, I was mesmerized by her chutzpah, wowed by her smarts. She's young and hungry and I rooted for her every step of the way. A hot book about an art scandal, artfully executed by a talented author who knows all the ropes. "A Woman on Fire" burns brightly in the fiction universe--five stars.

From the outset, you’re drawn into this thrilling, gripping novel revealing the underbelly in the world of art sellers and collectors, particularly when it comes to stolen works of art. Barr, a brilliant storyteller and eloquent wordsmith, turns her attention to history of Nazi-looted art, secretive black market private sales, falsified ownership papers, and restoration of works to the families of their original Jewish owners. No part of the art world goes unscathed, from museums looking the other way to greedy Wall Street types to unscrupulous gallery dealers.

Young journalist Jules Roth, after brashly making her way into the Chicago office of newspaper editor and award-winning journalist Dan Mansfield, proves herself an intrepid investigator. She quickly gains Dan’s admiration to the point that he brings her into a private investigation for close friend Ellis Baum, a famous shoe designer, who is dying and wants to reclaim the portrait, Woman on Fire. by Famous German Expressionist artist Ernst Engel, that got seized from his family by the Nazis.

Up to this point, Ellis has kept his Jewish family background secret from even his own family, including his brilliant, handsome artist grandson Adam who’s sequestered himself alone in a Montana cabin after having succumbed to heroin during his meteoric rise as a hot artist in New York city. Sparks fly between Jules and Adam, but Dan has a hard and fast rule of no personal relationships during an investigation. Jules and Dan, with Adam’s help, go on the hunt to uncover more about Ellis’ past and connection to the Woman on Fire painting and find out where it is.

Meanwhile, seductive, treacherous art gallery owner Margaux de Laurent wants to find the painting first and will go to almost any length to find it, as it had personal meaning to her French grandfather who owned it for a brief time before being claimed a second time by the Nazis. Margaux has a French estate on which she keeps key works of art collected by her grandfather, as well as artwork she intends to sell. Also, the evil Margaux has a past with Adam as she facilitated his rise to fame, as well as his drug addiction.

These disparate plots weave together and crescendo into unexpected revelations and an edge-of-your-seat plot that culminates a splashy Art Basel party in Miami.

You walk away feeling your heart racing and with a deeper appreciation of both the world of art and the enduring toll of the Holocaust on its victims.

In you haven’t read Barr’s other outstanding works, be sure to add Fugitive Colors and The Unbreakables to the top of your reading list!

Thank you NetGalley, Harper Perennial and Paperbacks, and Lisa Barr for the advanced copy of Woman on Fire in exchange for my honest review.

Jules Roth bulldozes her way into legendary investigative reporter Dan Mansfield's office, insisting she won't leave until he hires her. The young journalist-to-be impresses Dan enough that he hires her for a strange, and top secret, assignment. He needs to locate a painting stolen by Nazis during WWII: the famous Expressionist Ernst Engel's final, and most famous, work. World renowned shoe designer Ellis Baum has enlisted Dan's help in locating the painting, and time is of the essence: Ellis is dying.

The powerful, and deeply manipulative, gallerist Margaux de Laurent also has her eyes on the painting, and she'll do whatever it takes to get it. She's met her match in Jules, and Jules has an unforeseen ally on her side: Ellis Baum's grandson, Adam, once a huge name in the art world, now a reclusive recovering addict. No one knows better than Adam just how conniving Margaux is.

I don't think I can adequately put into words how much I FREAKING LOVED this book! I was completely hooked from page one and it only got better and better from there. I have read books in the past that were art-focused and I found myself completely bored, but that was never the case with Woman on Fire. Major, major kudos to Lisa Barr for her fantastic writing style that kept a topic I normally find dull so thrilling. It's also abundantly clear a TON of research was done for this book.

This book serves sexy, heartbreaking, thrilling, shocking, and just about everything in between. I cannot stress enough how impressive Barr's writing is, and I cannot believe this is my first book by her. Excuse me while I buy her entire backlist and devour immediately.

I genuinely suspect this one will be EVERYWHERE come pub day: March 1, 2022!

I couldn't put this book down. This thriller features a young journalist who pushes her way into the world of investigative reporting. It features stolen artwork from 1933-1945 Nazi Germany. The story follows the true stories of finding and recovering masterpieces and restoring them to the heirs of the original owners. But, get ready for book packed with love, sex, murders, deceit, art galleries, museums, festivals. What a great villain too!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperPerennial for this ARC. Ellis Baum is a world famous shoe designer but no one knows his past. His mother was a German actress and a famous Jewish artist painted her. When Hitler came to town, she was killed by the Nazi's in front of Ellis' eyes and the painting was soon sought after. Flash forward to current day and Ellis has made it his dying wish to find the painting of his mother and bring it home. When Jules is recruited to do the investigative reporting and help find the painting, she had no idea she would soon be involved in the black world of counterfeits and Nazi confiscated artwork. This book was so much more than WW2 artwork. It is a mystery and thriller and kept me reading! Great book! #WomanonFire #LisaBarr #mar2022

THIS! BOOK!

"You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life." - Joan Miró

This book is a wild ride that weaves together generations, characters, and discoveries seamlessly. I was gripped from the prologue and kept guessing about what would happen next all throughout. I could not put it down and found the ending to be just as satisfying as the beginning.

This is a story about the power of art, family, courage, deception, and love. Jules Roth, a young, ambitious journalist with a desire to work with the infamous investigative journalist Dan Mansfield finds herself embroiled in the art world searching for a painting stolen by the Nazi's 75+ years ago. The search takes her from Chicago to Germany to Miami and everywhere in between. She is teamed up with the famous shoe designer, Ellis Baum, who has a personal stake in this painting and originally enlisted Dan's help to find it. What they don't know, at first, is that they aren't the only ones searching for this famous work. Margaux de Laurent, the evil, sexy, manipulative gallerist who is desperately trying to cling to her families fortune and reputation, is also on the hunt for reasons that are personal to her. What persists is a satisfying cat and mouse game.

I adored this book. The characters stole my heart, even those who I hated but was still always fascinated to see what they would do next. There are villains and heroes and so much growth from the cast of characters throughout. I laughed, I cried, I thought about nothing else until I was done. This is one of the best books I've read in 2021. I can't wait to read it again! I highly recommend to all lovers of action, fiction, and fast paced books with colorful characters, settings, and plot.

Thank you to Harper Perennial and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book will be out on 3/1/22.

3.5 stars for this thriller combined with historical fiction! I absolutely loved the premise centering around stolen art from WWII. Lisa Barr did a fantastic job weaving these genres together. And Woman on Fire is a page turner. My one complaint was that the romance felt forced to me. I felt like it didn't add to the story. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A great read and full of suspense. I liked the strong female characters in this book and way the author ties in their characters’ past throughout the book and not all at once. It kept me wondering about each character as I read further. Jules was my favorite character and a headstrong go-getter.

Art stolen by the Nazi’s during the war is an interesting topic and I enjoyed the tie in of that type of horrible crime to the characters in this book. Historical pieces of art by the various artists of their times tend to have more of a story than just a beautiful painting.

Magnificent!! "Woman of Fire" by Lisa Barr was an extraordinary, exhilarating, fascinating novel about stolen art by the Nazi's, its personal significance and cost, as well as the brave, (some dangerous) characters that will bring the loot to light at any cost. Strong family legacies and much history and powerful art reflections. Absolutely thrilling! The cast of personalities was brilliant, and I personally did not want this book to end. My favorite Lisa Barr so far. Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the early review edition. All opinions are my own.

Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr is an exhilarating thrill-ride of a novel, one that will keep you turning the pages long into the night as you’re sucked into this complex story of Nazi-looted art masterpieces, the dark web, unresolved jealousies and long-standing feuds, some dating back decades, some fresh on the page. Jules Roth, our hero, is an ambitious young reporter helping track down the theft of Ernst Engel’s last painting, a stunning portrait of a beautiful woman who died during the second world war. Another woman, scheming, take-no-prisoners Margaux de Laurent is after the painting as well, for reasons both personal and financial. Add in Adam, the talented painter who left Margaux to reclaim his life and has fallen for Jules, his grandfather Ellis Baum, world-renowned shoe designer with ties to the woman in the portrait, and Dan, investigative journalist and Jules’ mentor, and you’ve got a complex set of characters both fascinating and flawed. This twisty tale of international intrigue, heart-rending betrayal, and epic courage in the face of certain danger will capture both your heart and mind and won’t let go until the harrowing end.

My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa Barr has written a masterful thriller that had me hooked from the first paragraph. Barr intertwines the worlds of investigative journalism, high-end art and fashion as she tells the story of a painting that was stolen by the Nazis and the quest to reunite it with its rightful owner. Who that is exactly and to what means the competing parties will go to in order to reclaim the artwork is at the center of this fast-paced, smart and sophisticated book. The premise and characters are unique and so well developed that the book has a cinematic quality and the plot twists and ending are finely crafted. This was my first work by Lisa Barr and I am looking forward to discovering her back catalog. I will recommend this book widely and will eagerly anticipate its publication date! Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the opportunity to read Woman on Fire and provide an honest review.

Where should I even begin? Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr was an exhilarating read focused on not only great works of art, but also on the connections that people have amongst one another. I loved how Barr alternated between different character's points of view throughout the novel as it added an extra layer of depth to the story telling. I also really enjoyed all of the characters, even the bad ones, as they were written in a way that made them feel real. This story is definitely targeted to a more mature audience since it does contain some violence and some really heavy topics regarding the Holocaust. The novel was paced really well and had a fantastic ending that made the whole story feel complete. I will definitely be recommending this story to everyone around me!

Exquisite handling of the horrors the Nazis perpetrated under their abhorrent lies of "saving art." Lisa Barr's writing is smart, her research impeccable . Well drawn characters with a different spin on an important subject. Loved it!

Barr's best work yet, marrying the high stakes world of Nazi stolen art with cut-throat journalism and a cast of characters managing individual issues and losses. Well-researched with smart (and sexy) writing, WOMAN ON FIRE is a fast-paced page-turner that pays thoughtful homage to those who perished in the Holocaust and the exquisite works that became victims too. Highly recommend this novel.

Journalist Jules Roth’s first real job is finding a painting stolen by the Nazis almost eight decades ago. The painting is called Woman on Fire and it was painted by Ernst Engel. Famous fashion designer Ellis Baum wants the painting and has asked Judith’s boss, an old friend to help him. But Jules doesn’t have much time because Ellis is dying. And she’s also up against a formidable adversary, Margaux de Laurent is a millionaire from a family of art collectors and she wants Woman on Fire. Jules has a secret weapon – Ellis’s grandson, Adam, who knows just how ruthless Margaux is and will do anything to bring her down. This is a really interesting twist on stolen Nazi art, Barr had me cheering for Jules and Adam