On the surface, this novel is about the theft of a painting by Piero della Francesca. At its heart, it’s a novel about relationships and trauma. A Sri Lankan refugee awaiting trial for stealing the painting talks to his barrister about his childhood, the trauma of civil war, his British wife and their daughter, the breakdown of his marriage, and the events leading up to the theft. An English author who crossed paths with the refugee in Italy adds more layers to the narrative.

Ras, the refugee, tells his story in second person. Perhaps the distance this creates is the reason I was drawn more to Alex’s story and his close friendship with art historian Charles Boyar and his wife, Delia, and the tragedy that befalls them.

While several women are important to the story, the reader only sees them from the perspective of the two men telling their stories to the barrister. Elizabeth, the barrister, is the most inscrutable character of all, as she listens but never speaks.

The characters resonated with me, and they have enough life that I think I’ll still remember them months from now. I cared what happened to them, and I wanted to see how their stories resolved. The technical elements, especially the second person passages, were a distraction from the flow of the novel. If the structure worked as it should, it wouldn’t be so noticeable.

This review is based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program. ( )

Real Rating: 3.5* of five

I RECEIVED AN ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK YOU.

Similar to Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch in initial conditions...an art crime reverberates through the characters' lives, the painting that's stolen has resonances in the story's structure that only reveal themselves the deeper you get...Roma Tearne did not decide to re-write someone else's idea by any means.

When Ras, one of our main characters, escapes his war-torn country after terrible losses, he looks at the UK with the hungry eyes of a victim in search of a savior. The trouble with that, Ras, is that no external being can save you from yourself. He does experience the blessing of a peaceful country's many opportunities, and he takes advantage of them. Job as a museum curator, marriage, a family, a life...all the good stuff. The issue for Ras is, of course, the unhealed horrors of genocide live in his brain. His wife gives him a daughter, as he sees it, and he dotes on the child. Not so much on the mother. Lavish loving attention but nothing for Mama? The inevitable occurs, and the illusion of normal life is ripped apart again.

Lola, his daughter, is a case study in "when bad children happen to loving fathers." Spoiled by his undivided attention and by nature selfish, she is a Hot Mess. Listening to Daddy's stories of the Old Country is a way to get what she wants, but not in the least a way to feel connected to him or to the weird foreign place he originates. Ras isn't a reflective person, at least not at first, but he pips to his essential trapped loneliness at last. What does he do, go to a shrink? No. He goes to Italy! He will tour the countryside and Look At Art.

He does this, all right. He looks at Piero della Francesca's The Flagellation of Christ a bit wrong.


The rest of the review is at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud because it's too long for here. ( )

I won this book in exchange for an honest review. This book is a DNF. I just could not get into the characters and felt the backstory took up most of the plot. ( )

This is a cleverly told tale. A lawyer is interviewing her client trying to establish his reasons for stealing an internationally famous artwork. He has been accused of an act of terrorism. The lawyer interviews not only Ras, the Sri Lankan immigrant accused of the theft but other people who have had an effect on his ultimate decision. The book takes us on a journey from war torn Sri Lanka to the Italian hillsides and art galleries.
It had this reader seeking out images of the paintings referred to and once again the author has created an empathy within myself for people who experience the loss of homeland, the feeling of dispossession, of being invisible within an alien culture. ( )

I was drawn to this book because of the art plotline but must admit to being a little confused by all of the various subplots. It wasn't a bad read but it wasn't super compelling either. The beginning and ending were fine but it did bog down a bit in the middle. ( )