The premise of the English Masterpiece is fascinating: 1973, the art world, paintings, forgeries and the emergence of art plundered by the Nazis and its uncertain provenance. Yet this book, set in London, is written by an American for an American audience, and as a Londoner the Americanisms grated on me and made me feel that the story lacked authenticity. Then the frequent factual inaccuracies (there was no ‘headmaster’ in Saint Martins school of Art. The British Museum is the world's oldest national museum and didn’t open in 1973..) alienated me further. The descriptions of clothing labels, French wines and European decor to denote status and luxury feel like luxe details rather than character insight or world building. The Art world I was looking forward to learning more about was also lacking: Monet’s painting was described as ‘Chiaroscuro at its finest’. I’d argue Caravaggio is chiaroscuro at its finest. The writing felt superficial, rushed and simplistic to me, with everything overstated. This lack of subtlety and substance made me unable to face reading to the end which is rare for me. I couldn’t connect with the setting and the characters felt like fatuous tropes. . I think I am the wrong reader for this book. I suspect that someone who knows London from films and is interested in the art world as a glamorous backdrop would enjoy this book a great deal more.

I don't know much about art, but I really enjoyed this new novel by Katherine Reay. She does an excellent job of bringing the art to life through her descriptions. This was a mystery/thriller that kept me flipping pages into the night. It was difficult to put away the book to sleep. I liked that it was set in 1973, so the characters couldn't use technology to help them solve the mystery. I highly recommend this book.

I love a book about art. I love a book even more about art forgery and a mystery. I think books like this take so much talent from writers because of the historical aspects of the art world/artists that need to be researched. This is just top down, a wonderful read.

I love Diana and Lily's characters. They seem one way on the surface but as the story moves, we find out the layers of secrets hidden beneath. They aren't entirely who they say they are which makes this a complex read.

This is my first time reading Katherine Reay, but I can tell you that it won't be my last!

Thank you so much to Harper Muse and Netgalley for the eARC of this book!

I really enjoyed this historical fiction novel by Reay. It delves into the art world, forgeries, and the personal growth of a Young woman who gets entangled in a forgery scheme.

Lily and her manager Diana are having the best time organizing exhibitions for Tate London. It's The Seventies and art is having a moment.
The book starts out in a light, fun tone, showing the museum as the place to be.
But then Lily trips, one small action that has huge consequences.
The tone of the story changes to dark, unfair, anxious. Some characters are not who they're supposed to be. I keep looking over my shoulder and holding my breath.
Forgery, greed, betrayal, dominance, the usual suspects for a great psychological thriller.
Lily's creative nature is the tiny spark in this dark space. Seeing her evolve into her authentic self is a beautiful thing to watch.
The English Masterpiece is an attractive read, well written and properly paced.
After all that excitement I found the ending quite predictable.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Muse for the ARC.

Although well written, I feel as though you had to be an art lover to really enjoy this. Yes, there was an air of mystery, but I was a little bit bored.

I received a free DRC of this book through Netgalley. I've read a couple of other books, by Katherine Reay, but this one really was hard to put down. The writing flowed well and as the POV changed between characters, it was easy to tell whose head we were in. Lily and Diana are both excellent main characters and I really enjoyed this book. I had to know what would happen at the end. I also LOVED that Pierce Brosnan had a cameo in the book as he has been one of my favorite actors since I was a teen.

I absolutely loved this story and I’m so impressed with Katherine Reay’s absorbing, thoughtful, well-researched writing. This story hit all the right notes and kept me engrossed all the way through. If you like history, art, mystery, or rich character development, this book is for you! Thank you NetGalley, for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to receive an ARC of this book. Please note there may be spoilers.
I was enamoured of the 70’s time frame and the setting of the Tate Art gallery for this intriguing story of the lowly assistant who declared “it’s a forgery” in front of all of the UK art world.
I appreciated Lily’s story of desperately wanting to move in to the world she admires so much. We can appreciate her beginnings on the sidelines of Saint Martin’s College in to getting her chance as the assistant to Diana Gilden, the Tate's modern collections keeper.
I struggled more with Diana’s story. I was intrigued for the humble beginnings of escaping Eastern Europe. It was a bit vague and perhaps not as informative or nuanced as Lily’s story. Sadly, this is where it fell apart for me, as we are meant to believe in 20 years she has gone from being a refuge of the war to the echelons of high society. That her husband Heinrich, also a refuge from Eastern Europe, has orchestrated this masterful rise with painting his forged masterpieces, I just struggled. That it all fell in to place before Lily came along and outed them.
I enjoyed the book regardless but I was less enthused as when I started it.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This is an excellent book about art and one does not need to know about art. The intrigue begins around a Picasso exhibition that goes off the rails. The threads are woven so well with good character development. It becomes a thriller as solving a crime becomes the focal point of the book. Family and love figure in along the way. A great read!

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. As with all of her novels I am so impressed with the amount of research involved in the writing of this story. It took me a little while to get into it but it was so worth it. It centers around two women working in a museum and forgery! Highly enjoyable.

The English Masterpiece by Katherine Reay was an enjoyable read, especially as my first introduction to her work. The writing was engaging, and I really appreciated the depth of research into the art world, particularly the focus on art forgery and its historical context. It was clear that a lot of effort went into the details, which added to the richness of the story.

I liked both Lily and Diana, though I found myself more drawn to some of the secondary characters (i.e. Daisy, Connor), and I wish they had been featured more often. I didn’t mind the pacing, but I did think the first half was weaker than the second—granted, it was mysterious, so maybe I was just confused at the time.

Despite that, I thought the ending came a bit too quickly for my taste. While some readers have found the characters a little hard to connect with, and the pacing slower in parts, the novel’s historical depth and the intriguing plot make it worth reading, especially if you’re into art.

The English Masterpiece is a wonderful story, fast paced story that totally kept me enthralled right up to the end. I couldn't wait to get back to the book and once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down! The story is about Lily who works for Diana as her assistant in the art world. The mystery which evolves around the Picasso exhibition introduces so many aspects of painters that it made me want to get to a museum to see if I could see the paintings with a new eye. The story includes family dynamics, deception and great artists.

I received an advanced copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback

London 1973. Pablo Picasso has died and art galleries worldwide are racing to put together a collection of his paintings for public exhibitions, in order to honour the master.
At the Tate Gallery, London, Diana Browning, keeper of Modern Collections and her assistant Lily, are likewise occupied. Lily has ambitions to be an artist and is studying at St. Martin’s College of Art. She copies the paintings she sees at work in order to understand the brushstrokes and composition details.
A fortnight later, all is ready for the public viewings. Lily notices a painting, The Laughing Woman, and realises that something is wrong. She loudly declares, “ that is a forgery!” Consternation all around! The Press cannot believe their luck at such a headline, the Director of the galley wants Lily to leave, the provenance of the painting is in doubt, and will have to be re- authenticated.
Connor Walsh, an Art Investigator starts work at the Tate, could this be an insurance scam? Who has the necessary skills to perform such a forgery?
Connor has a degree in art history and a police background that will be very interesting with such pressure in the art world.
As museums demand their paintings to be returned, Lily finds herself under suspicion.
A wonderful story that will appeal to all those who love to dabble with paints, visit galleries and like to gain extra knowledge about colours.
Lily learns the importance of finding her own style, and to care more for her family members.
There is a budding romance, which helps with a happy ending for most of the characters, the real life story didn’t work so well.
I gave this a four star read. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Harper Muse, for my complimentary copy of this book, given in return for my honest review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.
I will leave copies to Goodreads and Amazon UK upon publication.

Set in the Art World in the 1970s, "The English Masterpiece" follows Lily Summers. She works at the Tate Art gallery and dreams of one day seeing her own masterpiece hang in the gallery. A discovery of a forged painting launches our FMC to the center of an investigation.

I really really enjoyed the book. An art heist and the setting of 1970s London was compelling in itself. But then relationship of Lily to those around her really adds a complexity to the main character and helps understand her. I seriously could not put this book down. Not quite a 5 star read but definitely a 4 to 4.5 star read.

This book releases June 10, 2025.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A riveting tale set in 1973 London centered around the shady world of art forgery. Mystery, intrigue, and hints of romance kept this fast-paced story interesting. Lily's eye-opening experience to the world around her after she accidentally blurts out loud, "It's as forgery!", becomes a time of personal epiphany as she sees herself in a new light. Being authentic, cherishing family and friends, and being true to your own dreams become new themes in her life. The scenes towards the end were terrific, with some action, and well worth the wait. This was a good clean read, one that made me think, plus the nods to real people and places made it a fun 'getaway' read.
Recommend! 4.5 stars

Loved it! I really enjoyed the unique art history perspective and getting lost in the shadowy, dramatic world of art dealing. As someone who appreciates art, this book was an irresistible treat.

Diana’s point of view was compelling, and I loved watching the story unfold as more details were revealed. The pacing was fast, the drama was intense—a real page-turner.

That said, my mind did wander at times, and I struggled to connect with the main character, though I still found her intriguing. The love story between Lily and Connor felt half-hearted; the author didn’t do it much justice—it should have been scrapped altogether.

While the concept was great, the execution needed a lot more refinement. This book could have benefited from another round of edits, as some details were simply too far-fetched.

Overall, a solid read with an interesting premise, but it had room for improvement.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse for the ARC.

After spending my 40th with a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago, I am always on the look out for books on the art world. I enjoyed this one, but not sure if I would recommend it. I really enjoyed the character of Diana and would have liked if her character was fleshed out more. I did find this interesting as I had no idea about how the Nazi stealing artwork in WW2 led to so many forgeries on the walls of museums worldwide. It makes you wonder next time you go to museum!

This was a slow build, but it is definitely worth hanging in there! I liked the way it started, but the slow pace of the development was getting a little frustrating. Still, I was highly intrigued by the premise (I LOVE The Thomas Crown Affair!) and was very curious to see where things were going given the teasers in the blurb, so just keep moving forward. I'm SO glad I did, because this turned into a wild ride that had me furiously flipping pages in no time.

This is a fantastic tale full of well-developed characters, an intricate conspiracy, and lots of references to art that I had to search Google to fully understand. It was worth those searches, because it really helped me to grasp the artistic flavor of the story (I'm not very well-versed in art history of this period). I loved the interplay between the professional and personal sides of Lily's - and Diana's - lives. Watching the perspective shift between these two women, whose wildly different circumstances lead to so many of the life-changing decisions they make, was fascinating. I loved the way secrets and lies were teased out slowly - the very slow build that I found frustrating at first came to be one of the elements I most appreciated by the end.

This was a fabulous book and I will definitely be telling those at my library about it!

Although this book was a bit slow to start with please persevere as it becomes a riveting read. A real cat mouse thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat.
Lily is an assistant to Diana, the Keeper of Modern Collections at the Tate Gallery in London. Pablo Picasso has died and Diana and Lily are organising a special exhibition in his honour. On opening night Lily declares that one of the paintings is a forgery. This declaration sets off a time bomb in not only her career and life but also Diana’s.
There is a wonderful cast of characters and you are left guessing if the art work is truly a forgery and who is the forger.
A great read! With the added bonus of lots of history about the art world.