What I'm Reading: The Muralist

The Muralist
by B. A. Shapiro
Algonquin (Nov. 3, 2015)
Historical Fiction

What It's About:

When Alizee Benoit, a young American painter working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), vanishes in New York City in 1940, no one knows what happened to her. Not her Jewish family living in German-occupied France. Not her arts patron and political compatriot, Eleanor Roosevelt. Not her close-knit group of friends and fellow WPA painters ... And, some seventy years later, not her great-niece, Danielle Abrams, who, while working at Christie's auction house, uncovers enigmatic paintings hidden behind works by those now famous Abstract Expressionist artists.

Why You'll Love It:

• Shapiro's storytelling craftsmanship is amplified by her ability to use history as a backdrop, adding depth and perspective to her narrative.  
• The life of Alizée Benoit, a determined young painter, intersects with the lives of historical figures, including Eleanor Roosevelt and Breckinridge Long, and legendary artists, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Lee Krasner.
• Shapiro explores what happens when talent collides with inexorable historical forces, and how great art can change the world.

What Else You Should Read:

• The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro
• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
• The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

People of the Book
by Geraldine Brooks
Penguin Books, 2009
672 pages
Source: J.T. Oldfield (thanks!)

Summary in a Sentence:

Rare book expert Hanna Heath discovers a number of tiny artifacts hidden within the binding of a fifteenth-century Hebrew manuscript and begins to unravel the mysteries behind its past. 

Thoughts:

Not every story has a happy ending.

 Man, I love big, fat books in which I can totally get lost. And this book, spanning multiple countries over 500 years, is the ultimate saga covering art, religious persecution, book conservation, and more. I know that the length of the book can seem intimidating, but readers who are interested in these themes will not be sorry they read it.

Interspersed throughout Hanna's narrative in 1996 Sarajevo are the stories of the various people throughout history who were in some way connected with the survival of the ancient Haggadah. Each period we visit in the book's history corresponds with a fragment or small object found by Hanna's conservation efforts of the ancient book. On the journey, readers will encounter war, discrimination, prejudice, and tradition that lasts for centuries.

The Hagaddah in the book is in fact based on a real object, the Sarajevo Hagaddah, written around 1314 in Spain.

 You might also like:

• Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
• The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine
• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
• The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Other Reviews:

Maggie Reads | Book Nut | Medieval Bookworm