Alex Connor - Artemisia

 


A lovely read of mixed facts and fiction. It is about the painter Artemisia Gentileschi, who is slowly getting the fame she very much deserves. (Seeing the stage play "It's true, it's true, it's true" by Ellice Stevens and Billy Barrett about her gave me an extra push to buy this book.) The fiction in it sounded very plausible. How easy it would have been to make this into a sort of Dan Brown story. The writer did not fall for that trap.
The book contains a frame story within a frame story; in both the narrator can see all. (Contemporary scenes are alternated with scenes from 1650 and 1610 till 1650.) It works very well in this book. I loved all the details: it shows the author has a lot of knowledge about the subject and the research has been meticulous. After having finished the book I definitely wouldn't mind reading more work from Alex Connor. I certainly can recommend Artemisia.

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