This book is older (from 2010 I believe) and I’ve had it in my TBR pile for over a year! What pushed me to read it was wanting more art forgery after reading Fake last month. First of all, I loved it and am mad that I waited so long to read it. Second, now I feel like maybe I could forge a painting? (I’m kidding – I can’t actually paint… but like now I know all of the steps?). Claire Roth is a pariah in the art world. Despite being incredibly talented she’s struggling to pay rent, supplementing her income by doing reproduction paintings for an online company. One day powerful gallery owner approaches her with an offer – forge a Degas painting (stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum!) in exchange for $50,000 and a one-woman show at his famous gallery. It’s an offer that is too good to be true… but it’s also very dangerous. I loved this book. It’s so well-researched (I assumed the author was an art historian and/or artist as her knowledge of painting techniques runs so deep), it’s fast paced and fun, it’s absolutely fascinating! A must-read. And less importantly, I loved that it was set in Boston (I went to college there and lived there for 4 years after graduation). Order on Bookshop.org or Amazon.
Author: B.A. Shapiro