Description
Book SynopsisIn this dazzling story of art and illusion, secrets and schemes, who is to be trusted - and what is real?
From the internationally acclaimed author of Optic Nerve
*A TLS Book of the Year*
'A writer who feels immediately important' Observer
At a hotel in Buenos Aires, a woman checks in under a pseudonym. She wears a black fur shawl and has no luggage. She is alone.
Over the coming days and nights, she tells a story, which begins with a secret shared in a local bath house, revealing art forgery and fraud on a dazzling scale. At its heart is an enigmatic genius who for years forged portraits of the city's elite, before disappearing without trace. It is a story of influence and intrigue, in which nothing is as it seems. We're not to expect 'names, numbers or dates', she cautions, but a more subtle kind of reckoning...
Told in a mordant, irresistible voice and full of sharp surprises, Portrait of an Unknown Lady is a captivating enquiry into what we mean by 'authenticity', in life as in art. At once poised and capricious, elegant and bold, it is a thrilling exploration of the relationships between what is lived, what is told, what is remembered, and what is real.
Translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead
Trade Review'
Vividly detailed and
saturated with intricate feeling, Gainza's novel is an
engrossing exploration of authenticity, obsession, and the enveloping allure of art' -- Alexandra Kleeman, author of SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
This is a
truly exquisite novel... It is
moving,
clever and written
wry precision... As much as the narrator is haunted, the reader will be haunted -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *
Gainza weaves a
fascinating, often
confounding story about beauty, obsession and authenticity... Gainza is
sharp,
modern and
playful, a writer who multiples the possibilities of fiction -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * Observer *
A
richly detailed detective novel of sorts that explores authenticity and the distance between the way things appear and they way they really are -- Chiara Rimella * Monocle *
Dazzling... [a]
clever novel that explores the gap between what's remembered and what's real -- Chloë Ashby * Spectator *
