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Jessie Burton

The Muse

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From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Miniaturist comes a captivating and brilliantly realized story of two young women—a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London, and a bohemian woman in 1930s Spain—and the powerful mystery that ties them together.
England, 1967. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery. Drawn into a complex web of secrets and deceptions, Odelle does not know what to believe or who she can trust, including her mesmerizing colleague, Marjorie Quick.
Spain, 1936. Olive Schloss, the daughter of a Viennese Jewish art dealer and an English heiress, follows her parents to Arazuelo, a poor, restless village on the southern coast. She grows close to Teresa, a young housekeeper, and Teresa’s half-brother, Isaac Robles, an idealistic and ambitious painter newly returned from the Barcelona salons. A dilettante buoyed by the revolutionary fervor that will soon erupt into civil war, Isaac dreams of being a painter as famous as his countryman Picasso.
Raised in poverty, these illegitimate children of the local landowner revel in exploiting the wealthy Anglo-Austrians. Insinuating themselves into the Schloss family’s lives, Teresa and Isaac help Olive conceal her artistic talents with devastating consequences that will echo into the decades to come.
Rendered in exquisite detail, The Muse is a passionate and enthralling tale of desire, ambition, and the ways in which the tides of history inevitably shape and define our lives.
ThrillersHistoricalLiteraryHistoricalFiction
This book is currently unavailable
368 printed pages
Publication year
2016

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Impressions

  • Xiomara Canizalesshared an impression7 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    💞Loved Up

    This is a really refreshing novel... it has a 'clean' writing and the development of the story has a great timing.
    It has a combination of secrets, a little bit of romance, political issues and the search for the meaning of life.
    The whole story is based on a painting. The life of the one who painted, the inspiration for that painting, what happened with the painting and why does that person has it...
    I didn't gave it the 5 stars because I did got some issues with one character and the time the story is developed.
    Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean immigrant living in London who whats to become a writer. She is mostly the main character. She gets a job opportunity in Skelton Institute of Art after living in England for nearly 5 years. From what I understand she is a well educated woman, a higher education... I wish I could know more about Black Women History to know if that was even posible in the age of 1960? Were there Black Women allow to go to University by that time? According to her story her father died fighting in WWII, Were Black Men allow to be in the military by 1945? For me that seems so far fetched, maybe I am just ignorant. I really don't understand why the author opt to put Odelle as a Black Woman, why did she felt the need to put race or color in that character? After analyzing it the only explanation I could form was to create a link of equality between Odelle and Marjorie Quick, but I am still not completely convinced. There is a little spark on Odelle's life on how she deals with racism but is almost invisible, almost pointless to put it on the story.
    There is a chapter were Odelle and her best friend Cynthia had a conversation, the only one actually. Cynth is also a Black Woman. The conversation made me mad, they talked to each other like they were a pair of ignorants:
    " 'Ah sorry Cynth' I said 'So sorry. Ah was dovish, Ah was mess up-'
    'Hey Delly' she said. 'Ah marry and lef' you. Ah sorry too.. Ah miss you real bad, girl' "

    The other problem that I had was that the story felt more modern for the time that it was meant to happen. This I cannot give an extended detail because it is just a felling.

    But again I think this is a great story. Really recommended...

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    Quotes

    • Lukutoukkahas quoted6 years ago
      Somewhere inside her memory, a drawbridge had been lowered, and the foot soldiers of her past were pushing through.
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      • Lukutoukkahas quoted6 years ago
        I always find that the time before a party is happiest,’ Olive said. ‘Nothing’s had the chance to go wrong.’
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        • Lukutoukkahas quoted6 years ago
          She had never had a friend like this, in her private room, combing her hair, listening to her, talking about silly nonsense and the uselessness of one’s parents; how the future was perfect, because they hadn’t lived it yet.
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