Stolen Beauty
A Novel
by Laurie Lico Albanese
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Feb 07 2017 | Archive Date Mar 30 2017
Description
“Albanese artfully weaves Adele’s story with Maria’s harrowing life under the Nazis, but it’s hard to read Stolen Beauty without seeing ugly echoes in today’s headlines. Seven decades after World War II, have we learned nothing?” —USA TODAY
From the dawn of the twentieth century to the devastation of World War II, this exhilarating novel of love, war, art, and family gives voice to two extraordinary women and brings to life the true story behind the creation and near destruction of Gustav Klimt’s most remarkable paintings.
In the dazzling glitter of 1900 Vienna, Adele Bloch-Bauer—young, beautiful, brilliant, and Jewish—meets painter Gustav Klimt. Wealthy in everything but freedom, Adele embraces Klimt’s renegade genius as the two awaken to the erotic possibilities on the canvas and beyond. Though they enjoy a life where sex and art are just beginning to break through the façade of conventional society, the city is also exhibiting a disturbing increase in anti-Semitism, as political hatred foments in the shadows of Adele’s coffee house afternoons and cultural salons.
Nearly forty years later, Adele’s niece Maria Altmann is a newlywed when the Nazis invade Austria—and overnight, her beloved Vienna becomes a war zone. When her husband is arrested and her family is forced out of their home, Maria must summon the courage and resilience that is her aunt’s legacy if she is to survive and keep her family—and their history—alive.
Will Maria and her family escape the grip of Nazis’ grip? And what will become of the paintings that her aunt nearly sacrificed everything for?
Impeccably researched and a “must-read for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Paula McLain’s Circling the Sun” (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Stolen Beauty intertwines the tales of two remarkable women across more than a hundred years. It juxtaposes passion and discovery against hatred and despair, and shines a light on our ability to love, to destroy, and above all, to endure.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
"Laurie Lico Albanese has given us a powerful and important tale of love and war, art and family. Filled with lush prose and vivid historical detail, STOLEN BEAUTY is a work simultaneously intimate and sweeping in its scope. I was transported; I loved being swept up into the glorious, golden era of fin de siecle Vienna." – Allison Pataki, New York Times Bestselling Author of SISI: EMPRESS ON HER OWN
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781501131981 |
PRICE | $26.00 (USD) |
PAGES | 320 |
Featured Reviews
Vienna in 1903 is a land of beauty and enchantment. Adele Bloch-Bauer is a young, beautiful Jewish woman who has a fateful meeting with painter Gustave Klimt. Their passion for life and for each other draws them into a world of sensuous pleasure that is very different from the conventional world Adele knows. But time is running out for the young lovers as anti-Semitism grows and spreads. In 1943, Adele’s niece Maria, is a happy newlywed when the Nazis invade Austria, and overnight, Maria’s world crumbles. Maria’s husband is arrested, her family forced to leave their home and belongings behind. Albanese brings to life two of history’s most fascinating women, the woman who inspired Klimt’s Woman in Gold and her niece, who fought to have the painting returned after it was stolen by the Nazis. An unforgettable tale of heroism
Followers of Adele Bloch-Bauer and Maria Altmann have to read this book. Albanese crafts a deft fictional tale around the Woman In Gold and her supporting cast that is riveting and makes the reader feel like they are part of the story. Readers know how the story ends, but it does not interfere with the suspense of the story. Great job!