A young Hungarian woman confronts her family's past in an engrossing quest for a stolen painting
When Anika Molnar flees her home country of Hungary not long before the break-up of the Soviet Union, she carries only a small suitcase – and a beautiful and much-loved painting of an auburn-haired woman in a cobalt blue dress from her family’s hidden collection.
Arriving in Australia, Anika moves in with her aunt in Sydney, and the painting hangs in pride of place in her bedroom. But one day it is stolen in what seems to be a carefully planned theft, and Anika’s carefree life takes a more ominous turn.
Sinister secrets from her family’s past and Hungary’s fraught history cast suspicion over the painting’s provenance, and she embarks on a gripping quest to uncover the truth.
Hungary’s war-torn past contrasts sharply with Australia’s bright new world of opportunity in this moving and compelling mystery.
Publisher: RedDoor Press
ISBN: 9781913062651
Number of pages: 288
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
'Deceptively simple, deeply human, The Painting lights the shadows of dispossession in Hungarian immigrant lives in Australia through art and romance, meat and menace, totalitarianism, provenance and pest.';'An enthralling and intelligently-plotted novel whose lead characters are drawn with such depth they could be sitting on the sofa beside you. Their lives are movingly woven together by the painting that means something quite different to each of them.';'The Painting by Alison Booth offers a compelling and incisive portrait of Anika - a wise and wary exile from an oppressive regime - as she struggles to regain her trust in humanity.'; Michelle Wildgen, author of Bread and Butter
“When something was over, you couldn’t have regrets or dwell on the past. Yet the past was not always so willing to let you go. Even though you did all you could to kick it behind you, it could bounce back when you... More
"The portrait was home, it was family, it was the uncle she'd never met, it had become a part of who she was."
The Painting is an simple yet enlightening portrait of totalitarianism, immigration,...
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I really enjoyed this book. It is beautifully and sympathetically written. It is written about a very turbulent time in World history but it invokes the time period perfectly without being too heavy handed. Anika is... More
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