Jessie Burton

A picture hides a thousand words . . . On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn't know she had, she remains a mystery - no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come an artist and revolutionary, Isaac Robles, and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .Seductive, exhilarating and suspenseful, The Muse is an addictive novel about aspiration and identity, love and obsession, authenticity and deception - a magnificent creation and a story you will never forget.

The Muse

A Novel

Patrick Book

The last quarter of this races, but the first half slogs! I had real trouble digging into it. It really didn’t grab me at all. Some of the writing was confusing and just bad in some spots, and there was none of the whimsy or inventiveness of the Miniaturist.

Really enjoyed this - even on a second read.    It had been some years since I read the first time but the plot kept me guessing.     Authors choice of characters was an intriguing mix.   Ideal summer holiday read.

Suzanne Owens

Sonja H

Als Odelle Bastien, die vor fünf Jahren von Trinidad nach London gezogen ist, einen Job als Schreibkraft an der Skelton Galerie erhält, weiß sie, dass sich ihr Leben endlich zum Besseren verändern wird. Ihre neue Chefin Marjorie Quick erkennt rasch, dass Odelle ein großes Talent besitzt und fördert ihr schriftstellerisches Können.
Doch dann tritt ein junger Mann in ihr Leben, der ein Gemälde besitzt, dessen Künstler er identifizieren lassen möchte und Odelle stößt auf eine mysteriöse Geschichte, die ihren Ursprung 1936 in Spanien hat. Neugierig geworden, beginnt sie ihre eigenen Untersuchungen und entdeckt, dass alle um sie herum Geheimnisse zu hüten scheinen...

Jessie Burton verwebt in ihrem zweiten Roman sehr gelungen Ereignisse aus der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, denen auf den ersten Blick nur ein Bild gemeinsam ist. Es geht um Freundschaften, Liebe, Verrat und vor allem um Kreativität. Wer selbst künstlerisch tätig ist, wird beim Lesen viele Wahrheiten entdecken, die nicht nur früher galten, sondern auch in unserer jetzigen Zeit noch eine Rolle spielen. 

Es sind nicht viele Charaktere, die in diesem Buch auftreten, doch alle sind interessante Persönlichkeiten, die man nicht mögen muss, deren Handeln man jedoch gut nachvollziehen kann. Leider gibt es einen recht großen Zeitsprung bis zur Auflösung des Rätsels um das Kunstwerk. Gern hätte ich den ein oder anderen Protagonisten etwas weiter begleitet, mehr Hintergründe über die Zeit, die ausgeblendet wurde, erfahren. 

Wieder einmal ist der Autorin ein großartiges Buch gelungen, das ich jedem empfehlen kann.

Celeste Richardson

For this and more of my reviews, as well as my friend Petrik's reviews, check out my new blog, Novel Notions. 

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Is there anything that holds as much sway over humankind as art? 

Whether it takes the form of music or a painting or a sculpture or the written word, nothing speaks to our souls like art. This gives artists a power over their fellow men and women. But no one doubts art so much as its creator, and so an artist’s audience holds within themselves the approval and praise that said artist craves, and thus artists rely on their audiences for the affirmation and reassurance needed to create their next work of art. However, if an artist isn’t careful they begin producing cheap imitations of the art that first garnered them attention, and so artists must be careful regarding how heavily they rely upon and value the opinions of others. They need something else to feed that need and fuel their creativity.

They need a muse. 

“Like most artists, everything I produced was connected to who I was - and so I suffered according to how my work was received. The idea that anyone might be able to detach their personal value from their public output was revolutionary.”

In order to create art that moves and speaks and matters, an artist must find their muse. Not every muse is someone for whom the artist has romantic feelings. A muse might be a child, or an enemy, or themselves. Or perhaps instead of a human muse, an artist is inspired by nature or laughter or the idea of love. Inspiration is everywhere, and an artist might be inspired by thousands of different things within their lifetime. But a muse is something that said artist keeps returning to, something that has the power to imbue their work with life and a lushness that nothing else can quite inspire.

Odelle is a Trinidad native trying to make a way for herself in London during the 1960s. More than anything, Odelle longs to become a published writer, but doesn’t have the faith in herself or her work to take steps in that direction. One day, she is given a position at an art gallery as a typist, which is a big step up from her job selling shoes. On her first day at her new place of employment, Odelle meets Marjorie Quick, and her life will never be the same. 

“...Is there ever such a thing as a whole story, or an artist's triumph, a right way to look through the glass? It all depends on where the light falls.” 

After Odelle’s first meeting with Quick, as she refers to herself, the storyline diverges, taking us to Spain in 1936, before the beginning of World War II. Here we meet the Schloss family. Olive is our primary character from this timeline. Olive is nineteen and ready to go live her own life, but her parents have issues. Sarah, her mother, is a British heiress and a depressive who seems always on the brink of ending her life. Harold, Olive’s father, is a Jewish art dealer in a time where his heritage was beginning to make life uncomfortable. Neither have any idea that their daughter has applied to and been accepted by the prestigious Slade School of Fine Arts. Honestly, they don’t even know that she still paints, much less that she’s talented. Her father believes strongly that only men can create true works of art with depth and merit, and so she hides her gift. Or at least, she does until she meets Teresa and Isaac Robles, siblings from a nearby village. Olive reveals her art to Teresa, who makes a decision one day that irreversibly changes all three of their lives.

There’s little else I can say about the plot of this book without giving something important away. While many of the twists were foreshadowed, there were a couple that came as a surprise to me. I confess that this is a story that would have benefited from a bit more characterization and a little less plodding prose. While the writing was lovely, it tended toward boggy. I liked what the novel had to say about art and the process of creation, and I appreciated that the book highlighted women as artists. But none of the relationships felt true, and the characters didn’t seem to like or accept themselves, which made them hard to enjoy. All of that boils down to this: I enjoyed the philosophical aspects of the story far more than the story itself. That being said, the book has merit, especially for people who appreciate the theory of art or are artists themselves.

“A piece of art only succeeds when it's creator...possesses the belief that brings it into being.”

Jennifer

Ioana-Alexandra Predan

I loved how she managed to say two stories from different timeliness in the same book, without creating confusion. Loved it.

Heather Murray

While it was a great story, the changing narrators sometimes got confusing or frustrating. I think the tone and description was great but overall, the big reveal was easily seen coming.

Hatice

Lesley McNeil

Ayaan 

The Sunday Times Number One Bestseller and Richard and Judy Book Club selection. A picture hides a thousand words . . . On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn't know she had, she remains a mystery - no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery. The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . . Seductive, exhilarating and suspenseful, The Muse is an unforgettable novel about aspiration and identity, love and obsession, authenticity and deception - a masterpiece from Jessie Burton, the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist.

Heather Margaret

Gigi V

azliana aziz

Macy Johnson

Hannah Swithinbank

Jazelle H

Barbara

“Love, war, desire, and art—it’s all here.” —Elle Two Women. Two Ears. One painting that ties them together. July 1967, Mayfair, London--a painting is left propped on the doorstep of the Skeleton Gallery, discovered by Odelle Bastien, a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. The painting is rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is only matched by the tension around the conflicting stories of its discovery. Odelle is unsure who or what to believe as she is drawn into a complex web of secrets and deceptions. Thirty years earlier, Olive Schloss, the daughter of a Viennese Jewish art dealer, follows her parents to a village in southern Spain that is rife with unrest. It is here Olive meets María Teresita, the young housekeeper, and María’s half-brother Isaac Robles, an ambitious painter newly returned from the Barcelona salons. The illegitimate offspring of the local landowner, neither sibling has anything to lose when by exploiting these new guests in their poverty-stricken town. As they insinuate themselves into the family, the consequences are devastating and echo into the decades to come. In vividly rendered detail, acclaimed author Jessie Burton spins a tale of desire, ambition, and the ways in which the tides of history inevitably shape and define our lives.

The Muse

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