A Death in Cornwall by Daniel Silva

A Death in Cornwall is Silva's 24th Gabriel Allon novel and was his 2024 publication. It is one of my favorite series of books and I look forward to a new novel every July. Unfortunately, I am usually 1 July behind. 

Allon, the former head of Israeli intelligence,  has now, in retirement, transitioned to being a full time art restorer working for his wife Chiara in Venice, Italy. They have twins and many times he is responsible for being the parent in charge. However, he still dabbles in international intrigue when it involves something to do with art theft, restoration or forgery. 

Allon has lived in Cornwall off and on during his days as a spy when he wanted to become incognito. It was because of this and his connection to a young detective, Timothy Peel,  that he became involved in the case of a murdered art historian, Charlotte Blake. She had been researching the whereabouts of a Picasso painting at the same time the "Chopper" serial killer was operating in the same area. Was she his/her victim or was there another murderer on the loose?  

The Picasso had belonged to a Jewish family and was confiscated by the Nazis during the Holocaust. In tracing its provenance, he discovers that it is being held in the Geneva Freeport. The reader always learns something in Silva's novels. As it is owned by a shell company, one of the many created by the corrupt law firm of Harris Weber, the machinations expose the length and depth the owners will go to protect the painting and its worth, influence the selection of a new English Prime Minister, and discredit an upstanding journalist. 

As is the case in all of Silva's novels, the plot twists and turns as he reintroduces characters from the past - Christopher Keller, Rene Montjean, Sarah Bancroft, Ana Rolfe, and Ingrid Johanson. It is more of a page turner than some of the Allon novels and still lets the reader travel to many European locations. The descriptions of the group in Monaco were especially interesting. 

The 2025 Allon, An Inside Job, arrived today so I must finish book club books before embarking on that one.  
 

The Secret Life of Sunflowers by Marta Molnar

Chosen for the July Gables Book Club, I had a bit of time to get ahead on some reading. The basis of this novel were the letters and diaries of Johanna Bonger, the sister-in-law of Vincent Van Gogh. It was a fascinating interplay between her life and the life of Emsley Wilson, whose grandmother gives her a box containing the memorabilia. 

Wilson is an auctioneer who arranges political auctions for the rich and famous. She owns the company with Trey, a boyfriend with whom she has broken up. This complicates her life as she also deals with the hospitalization and death of her grandmother, Violet. Violet was a well-known New York City socialite and artist. After Violet's death Emsley is charged by her mother to clean out Violet's Greenwich home to make sure there is nothing that would tatter Violet's name. During this process she learns that Trey is plotting to dissolve the business and requires that Emsley come up with the million dollars to buy him out to save it. 

During this time she becomes further engrossed in the diaries in which Johanna, after the death of her husband Theo, makes it her goal to establish Vincent as an accomplished artist. Johanna finds herself a young widow with a little son and refuses to take a back seat to no one. She is an independent woman, much like Emsley strives to become. 

There are some additional, well drawn characters in the book, especially the chicken that is given to her by Violet's neighbor, Mrs. Yang. Johanna's brother, Dries, is well articulated and provides support for his sister as she deals with Theo's illness. Emsley begins to see a real genealogical connection between her grandmother and Johanna and goes to great ends to establish that relationship.  

This was an incredibly well researched book and an entertaining one. There are a number of quotes that resonate with the reader. It was especially ironic that Johanna remarked that Monet had moved to Giverny to paint water lilies and that it will be “will be the end of him in the profession.”

Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Daniel Silva

In between book club books gives a good time to try to catch up on the TBR shelf. This always leads me back to whatever Daniel Silva books are there. 

Portrait of an Unknown Woman  is a bit of departure from Silva's general M.O. There are no political stances, no threats of destroying world peace or any of the major nations, nor any international spy missions. What it is is a intriguing look into the world of art dealers, forgery, and some Ponzi schemes. 

Gabriel Allon, former head of Israeli intelligence has retired to Venice with his wife Chiara and his twin children. She has taken a job as the head of the Tiepolo Restoration Company and Gabriel has become the stay at home father while he recovers from the bullet wound that nearly killed him in The Cellist. Of course, if he remained in retirement, there would be no novel. Having received a call from his friend and London art gallery owner, Julian Isherwood, he sets off on the trail of a major art forgery ring that is operating from Berlin to Spain to the United States. After Isherwood receives a letter saying that a painting that he recently sold was a forgery and the woman who sent the letter was killed, there is only one person whom Isherwood would call. 

As the novel intertwines art history, forgery, and danger, Allon sets out a trap by creating forgeries of Grand Masters. Through a complicated series of events, especially sting operations involving Sarah, her husband Chris and some old arch-enemies of Gabriel, the investigation of the murder reaches a climax on the tarmac of a Long Island airport. 

Silva creates intense drama in his books without feeling the necessity of long-winded descriptions. It is interesting that he has shifted the focus of the novel to more of an art perspective and take Allon away from his intelligence job at The Office. This was a fascinating narrative into the real world of Gabriel Allon. It will be interesting to see how his character further evolves in the next novel, The Collector. 
 

Oil and Marble by Stephanie Storey

 

Chosen by the Gables Book Club for our April 2021 discussion was the historical fiction novel Oil and Marble.  It is a recounting of the rivalry between Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo in the first years of the 16th century. Each was working on a piece of art that would eventually define them through the centuries. Most of the members liked, but did not love the book. 

The novel is told in alternating chapters focusing on each of the artists. Michelangelo returned to Florence from Rome where his emotional sculpture, The Pieta, had recently been unveiled. It was not a triumphant return to his family, which was not enamored of his work as an artist. At the same time Leonardo had been commissioned to work on a mural, The Battle of Anghiari in Florence, while working on a dam and way to prevent the flooding of the Arno from washing out the city. The rivalry between the two artists started over the commission of a piece of stone, destined to eventually be sculpted into a piece of art. Leonardo lost that battle when Michelangelo created drawings that more impressed the city and church leaders. At the same time Leonardo meets Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a silk merchant. He is smitten with her and desires to paint her, a proposition he makes to her husband. 

Throughout the novel the reader is  privy to the hardships and struggles of both men to complete their projects. The physical pain and suffering of Michelangelo as he carves and polishes David, is intense and can almost be felt by the reader. The emotional battles of Leonardo as he falls in love with his Mona Lisa are almost as painful. As a backdrop to their hardships is the flooding of Florence, the burning of the Michelangelo home, and the conflicts of the Medicis, Borgias and the influence of Machiavelli. 

In her notes, Storey describes the liberties that she took in retelling this historical account. It was that liberty that many of the book club could not fully condone. However, for this reader, with that understanding, it was not unacceptable. Oil and Marble is an interesting read about the two men whose art is so important and well known over 500 years from its creation. The history of Florence as a city state is quite interesting and gives a perspective of life in that time frame. At the conclusion of the novel, Michelangelo meets a budding artist and encourages him. It is a direct tie-in to Storey's next novel, Raphael, which I will put on my "to be read list" for future considerations.

 

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland

In 1999 we traveled to Washington D.C. for a getaway weekend. One of the places that we put on our itinerary was the Phillips Collection. There was an exhibit of Impressionist paintings. Among them was The Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir. This painting has fascinated me ever since. When I saw Vreeland's book appear on the Kindle Daily Deals, I immediately bought it. The appeal was even more enhanced after seeing a number of Renoir's paintings, especially Ball at the Moulin de la Galette at the Museé d'Orsay in June. I chose it for our Gables Book Club's September selection, with apologies for picking another art book. 

Susan Vreeland does a wonderful job in creating the back story of the attendees at the luncheon. In 1881 Renoir was a struggling artist both in the artistic sense and in a personal sense. He had been painting in the impressionistic style, but had wanted to extend his notoriety beyond that group, especially after the critical review of Emile Zola. He had painted numerous portraits, but knew that he needed another large painting to follow the Ball. At the urging of his patron, Madame Charpentier, he decided on a painting that would take place at the Maison Fournaise. And so he began to assemble the models. They came from every walk in life, including artists, actresses, lawyers, the children of the owner of the cafe, a seamstress, and a dancer. Over an 8 week period of time he painted them and the setting of the party. He was really under a self-imposed deadline due to the natural lighting and a nautical festival that would be taking place there. 

Thirteen of the people in the painting are easily identified, but there is a mysterious person in the center of the work, almost hidden. Renoir was consumed with the fact that he needed to have 14 people appear so as not appear to be imitating The Last Supper. Could it be that he painted himself in? Prominently seated in the fore of the painting is Aline with her dog. She would eventually become Renoir's wife. The lives of the other models give a peak into the cultural, historical, and social mores of the time. Vreeland in her narrative gives an insight especially in to the issue of women's rights and the women who strive to assert them whether it be in subservience to a man or the right to an abortion. 

The description of the food that is served prior to Renoir's painting on the Sunday afternoons leaves one craving some of the dishes. Chapter 17 begins with such a description of a Charlotte Malakoff:

"They’d sung a few songs while eating the Charlotte Malakoff, a mold of strawberries, ladyfingers soaked in rum, and almond cream, and now they were ready to take their poses."

This was the inspiration for the dessert at the evening's book club discussion. 

There is also a bit of a romantic triangle between Renoir, Aline, and Alphonsine Fournaise, both of whom were in love with Auguste and he with them.

This was a delightful book to read and one that you should read with the painting at your side. The characters are well developed, the setting well described, and the research extensive. I will be looking to read one of Vreeland's other books.

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith

I was intrigued by the description of this book when I first read about it in Bookmarks magazine. I chose it for a read for our February book club and it was met with a somewhat lukewarm reception - that is until people read it. 

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos was one of the best books that I have read in the last few years. It has a bit of everything one could want in a book - history, mystery, art, and some interesting relationships. Taking place on 3 continents and in 3 eras of history, the novel weaves its tale through the painting, "At the Edge of a Wood." Smith gives the reader a detailed description of the painting before the narrative begins and he relates the story of Sara and her family. Barent, her husband is a painter in 17th century Holland. They have a young daughter and live what seems to be a bucolic life. And then, suddenly Kathrijn, their daughter dies of the plague and their world is turned upside down. 

Fast forward to 1957 and the apartment of Rachel and Marty DeGroot, a wealthy couple hosting a charity dinner after which Marty discovers that the painting "At the Edge of a Wood" that has hung above their bed has been replaced by a meticulously crafted forgery.  The forger is a young graduate student, Ellie Shipley,  whose specialty is women painters of the Dutch Golden age. DeGroot becomes obsessed with finding the original painting that has been in his family for 350 years and eventually he becomes acquainted with Ellie. As the story builds to a climax, after another 40 years, the original and forgery are side by side in an Australian art gallery where Ellie has held a prominent position. 

Concurrently, the reader learns of the hardships of Sara and her quest to be admitted to the Guild of St. Luke, the painters union in Holland. She is a strong woman and has had to overcome the hardship of both personal and monetary loss. Her story parallels the struggle of Ellie and so many women who were never really given the credit for their talents or intellect. 

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos is an incredibly fulfilling read. It is full of twists and turns, wonderful character development, and themes. Smith deftly handles time and place from 1631 to 2000, from Holland to New York City, and Australian as he focuses on a painter, an art enthusiast, and a forger. This is not to be missed if a reader yearns to read a book that he or she does not want to end.

The Heist by Daniel Silva

With a lull in book club book reading, it was time to turn to one of my favorite authors, Daniel Silva. I look forward each year to his new spy, mystery, and art history novel. The Heist was 2014's addition to his collection and was, as usual, a good and entertaining read.

Gabriel Allon is in Venice restoring a painting and awaiting the birth of his twin children with wife Chiara. It is not a surprise to his faithful followers that this work is interrupted by a crime committed for which his help is needed to solve. A notorious vendor of stolen art thief is found dead and according to General Ferrari, the Italian chief of police for art theft, all leads point to Allon's friend, Julian Isherwood. The murder leads to the question that the very famous  Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence by Caravaggio has been stolen. In his quest to find this,  Allon uncovers another series of murders directly connected to the art world. In his typical fashion, he finds that the murders and art thefts were connected to the Middle East and the ongoing crises there. In this novel, the reader is transported to Syria and the war it has waged with Israel. 

In a cleverly designed guise, Allon enlists the aid of a young woman, Jihan Nawaz, who works for a Syrian banker, but who witnessed the 1982 Hama massacre in which her parents were murdered. Allon plays on her hatred to aid him in recovering money stolen by the Syrian government. Jihan figures to be a new player in the Gabriel Allon novels and is one that the reader hopes will resurface in another book. 

As Gabriel is preparing to take control of the intelligence office in Israel, familiar characters make their appearance to support his scheme. One of the most poignant scenes is when Gabriel visits his first wife, Leah, who is in an institution as a result of the trauma she experienced in the auto accident that killed their son. Her comments hearken back to that time and elicit sympathy and empathy for their lives.  Uzi Navot is enlisted as well as his wife Bella, who feels that Uzi is being pushed out of his job. Allon also calls on Yaakov Rossman to bring his talents to the case. The twists, turns, and suspenseful action keep the reader turning the pages. 

One surprise in the book is when Silva mentions The Sybille of Cleves by Lucas Cranach. Cranach is my 12th great grandfather and a well known artist in the medieval world. 

Already announced for the summer of 2015 is Silva's new book, The English Spy. Here's hoping the English Girl will make another appearance. Can't wait.