From the back cover:
Kat Lind, an American expatriate living in London with her entrepreneur husband and their young son, attends an opening at a prestigious Mayfair art gallery and is astonished to find her own face on the walls. The portraits are evidence of a long-ago love affair with the artist, Daniel Blake. Unbeknownst to her, he has continued to paint her ever since. Kat is seduced by her reflection on canvas and when Daniel appears in London, she finds herself drawn back into the sins and solace of a past that suddenly no longer seems so far away.
When the portraits catch the attention of the public, threatening to reveal not only her identity, but all that lies beyond the edges of the canvases, Kat comes face to face with the true price of their beauty and with all that she now could lose.
Moving between the glamour of the London art world and the sensuous days of a love affair in a dusty Paris studio, life and art bleed together as Daniel and Kat’s lives spin out of control, leading to a conclusion that is anything but inevitable.
My thoughts:
This is a finely wrought novel of love and second chances, of choices and sacrifices.
Daniel and Kat are the main protagonists of the story – everyone else is just in the backdrop propping them up, and it works wonderfully. But even though everyone else feels like supporting characters, they are well-defined and you can understand their impulses and motivations.
Waters-Sayer tackles the fragility of relationships and the compelling pull of love with a beauty that settles into your heart. The artistry of the painter (Daniel) and of the storytelling come together to create a masterpiece.
This is a truly beautiful book that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Highly recommended!
