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    The Art Forger
    The Art Forger
    The Art Forger
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Art Forger

    Written by B. A. Shapiro

    Narrated by Xe Sands

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art today worth over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there#8217;s more to this crime than meets the eye. #160;#160;Making a living reproducing famous artworks for a popular online retailer and desperate to improve her situation, Claire is lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting-a Degas masterpiece stolen from the Gardner Museum-in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But when that very same long-missing Degas painting is delivered to Claire#8217;s studio, she begins to suspect that it may itself be a forgery. #160;#160;Her desperate search for the truth leads Claire into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since the late nineteenth century may be the only evidence that can now save her life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateOct 23, 2012
    ISBN9781611749281
    The Art Forger
    Author

    B. A. Shapiro

    B.A. SHAPIRO is the author of The Art Forger, which was a New York Times bestseller, a #1 Indie Next Pick and the winner of the 2013 New England Book Award, among many other honours. Writing as Barbara Shapiro, she is also the author of five suspense novels and one non-fiction book. She lives in Boston and teaches creative writing at Northeastern University. Web: bashapirobooks.com Facebook: BAShapirobooks Twitter: @ba_shapiro

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    Reviews for The Art Forger

    4/5

    151 ratings107 reviews

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    • 4/5
      As someone who lives in the Boston area and who has heard about the art theft at the Isabela Steward Gardner museum, this book brought some new insights. The author, Shapiro, clearly knows art and is very passionate about it - this is passed along to the reader. Where the story falls is the love story aspect - a little too pat and a little to convenient.I would recommend this book just for Shaprio's take on art theft alone!
    • 3/5
      A background in art and necessary supplies, while not necessary, would probably make this book more interesting. The reader is treated to a lot of information about the art of forging art in this book.Claire Roth, a struggling artist, makes ends meet by reproducing masterpieces with a particular talent for Degas. She is approached to copy a Degas painting previously thought to be part of a heist from an art museum that had never been recovered. While studying the painting she becomes more and more sure that the painting she was studying was a forgery itself. Which begs the question - where is the original?The story is broken into up letters written by the woman who created the museum, a few years earlier when Claire was helping a friend come out of a creative funk, and the present, written in first person, from Claire's point of view.While undeniably an interesting story, I found Claire rather flat and felt none of her passion for art and her favorite artist, Degas. The description of taking an old canvas, removing the original paint, preparing the canvas, and making a copy of an original master, was given in great detail but I really had a hard time believing that such a young woman would have enough talent and practice to pull it off.
    • 4/5
      The Art Forger marks B.A. Shapiro's fiction debut. Now I must admit, I have very little knowledge of the art world. So I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this book or not.What I found fascinating was that Shapiro wove her story around actual historical figures and events. In 1990 the Gardner Museum was robbed of a number of significant art works. They have never been recovered. The works were collected by Isabelle Stewart Gardner - a woman who lived life on her own terms.Shapiro's narrator and main character is painter Claire Roth. She survived a scandal personally, but the professional fallout has left her 'reproducing' famous art works for a living. When a well known gallery owner approaches her about reproducing a famous work in exchange for a show of her own work, she hesitates - but agrees. The work she'll be copying is one of Degas's - and one stolen from the Gardner. Or is it?Shapiro's research has been carefully carried out. She describes the atmosphere, the smell, the process of painting with great detail and passion. I did actually learn quite a bit during my read, but at the end did find myself glossing over some of these passages as they seemed to cover ground already discussed. The same process is covered multiple times.Shapiro uses flashbacks very effectively. In bits and pieces we learn what happened to Claire three years ago and what led to her current situation. As that story unfolds, it seems that history may be repeating itself. Has Claire made the same tragic mistakes yet again?The third storyline is told in 1880's letters from Isabelle to her niece - her only confidant. The mystery of the current day missing paintings might be found in these missives. But, have they survived the years? I really enjoyed these letters.But somehow, I never felt I connected with Claire on a personal level. I had a hard time buying her relationship with Aiden the gallery owner. I found the art side of the story much more developed and richer than the characters themselves. They seemed rather wooden and somewhat cliched. The Art Forger has been billed as a literary thriller, but I disagree. It's a good story, but isn't really a thriller at heart. The mystery aspect of the book is somewhat obvious and it was not a surprise when I was proven right. An enjoyable read, but not a standout for this reader.
    • 4/5
      Claire Roth is an artist with a past who makes her living reproducing copies of the master works by artists such as Degas to be sold online as reproductions. She has no viable outlet for her own work until offered an opportunity to produce an actual forgery for a noted gallery owner.Claire's story is interwoven into the history of the original Degas which she has been hired to copy, playing out in unexpected ways in the present.
    • 3/5
      This book tells the story of a young female artist who is persuaded to copy a painting by Degas that was stolen in a highly publicized theft from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. I found the chronicle of Claire Roth's efforts to not only reproduce this painting but also to find and return the lost art slow and uninspiring until very late in the book. The tangled threads of three different time periods and viewpoints did not make this a book that drew me further into the intrigue but made me question why I was spending the time reading it. The characters were unlikeable and stereotypical (starving artist, snooty museum curators/gallery owners), the plot too convoluted. Maybe an art student would enjoy it because of all the details conveyed relating to the process of painting but for the ordinary reader, not something I would recommend.
    • 4/5
      I loved this quick powerhouse of a story. I felt totally immersed the art world, somewhere I would like to spend more time. Loved all of the characters and could not put it down. Enjoyed all of it.
    • 3/5
      These days, many people read mysteries in order to learn how to do something: like bake a souffle, knit a beanie or spay a cat. Considering all the many things that might be learned, gaining an understanding about how to forge a Degas is not totally without interest. This is one of those books told in three concurrent strands, the distant past, the recent past and the present. On the whole, Ms. Shapiro does well keeping the strands from getting gnarled up, although she occasionally bobbles her present tense.
    • 4/5
      It was ironic that I started this book on the morning of my first visit to the local art museum in 4 years. First of all, this book is a captivating mystery with lots of twists and turns and I did learn a great deal about painting. But more importantly was that not only did it keep me highly entertained it made me think! That, to me, is the perfect book.. It made me wonder if any of the works during my visit to the museum were forgeries and if they were - does that make the forger an equal "master" to the painter who produced the original? You should really treat yourself and read this book and I hope it has the same effect on you as it did on me.
    • 4/5
      This is one of the best books I've read in awhile. It was recommended by a friend who knows of my interest/background in art. I have a degree in graphic design and interest in art history, but I believe this novel would appeal to anyone with an appreciation for art. The author clearly did much research, the book was well written and added historical interest as well. Full of interesting details and characters, plus a fast paced story that really engages the reader. I am recommending this book to anyone who wants their next great read!
    • 5/5
      I got totally engrossed in this novel. I didn’t want to put it down, and couldn’t wait to pick it up again to discover what new twist would happen. The Art Forger is a fictionalized story, based on an unsolved Boston Museum art theft; the author creates a scenario where a struggling talented artist comes into possession of one of the 13 missing art works, and she is asked to create a forgery of the painting. A rich powerful Gallery owner promises her a career making show of her own if she’ll say yes, and she is tempted to silence her conscience to achieve her dreams of success. Through careful research the author brings to life the underground world of art forgery, unscrupulous art dealers, and art collectors. Since I’m married to an artist, I read some passages to him to verify if it was realistically based, and he agreed, sharing more insights into what it takes to make an authentic painting using methods from the past. Bravo for this fascinating mystery set in Boston that immerses the reader into the highs and lows of artists and collectors. Nice flow between past and present, with interesting characters that are true to life. Would make an incredible movie—think TV’s White Collar. I read this ARC through Amazon Vine and give it a solid 5 stars.
    • 4/5
      I thought that this was a) historical fiction and b) a mystery. Both those things turned out to be true in part but essentially this was a contemporary literary fiction novel. I think my rating may reflect in part my sense of disappointment about that misconception. However, being from the Boston area, I enjoyed all the local color and I found the information about art very interesting. In particular, seeing the "art scene" in terms of a business, a way of making a living, was fascinating. I found the historical fiction parts about Isabella Stewart Gardner fun but not completely believable. I also thought that Aiden Markel's "big reveal" predictable and it bothered me all along that Claire wasn't more cautious/suspicious.
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this book. A little slow at some points--and unrealistic at others--but the general story was an enjoyable one. I'd recommend it for someone who wanted a fast read that is a couple steps above mindless.
    • 4/5
      “In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, a pair of thieves disguised as Boston police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and roamed the Museum’s galleries, stealing thirteen works of art.”“It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history.”-The Gardner Museum HeistClaire Roth is a talented young artist, but after being involved in a scandal, involving a past boyfriend, she has been black-balled by the art community. She now paints reproductions. When an old friend and gallery owner, approaches her, to forge a painting, he offers her a chance to have her own, one-woman show, which will gain her the respect she yearns for. The glitch is: the Degas painting that she is asked to copy, appears to be one of the stolen artworks, from the Gardner theft.This sends Claire down a very dangerous path, which involves local police, the FBI and possible prison time.There is mystery, intrigue, romance and gorgeous descriptions of art and the process of creating art. The author seems to know her stuff. The novel begins to stretch credibility in the last third or so, but not quite enough to sink the story. A good, old-fashioned yarn.
    • 4/5
      I wasn't pulled into this book immediately, but I stuck with it and ended up thoroughly entertained.As an artist (and librarian), I was impressed more by the descriptions of artistic process and art history than I was the the slow, yet effective, character development.I'll be sharing and recommending this Early Reviewers selection.
    • 5/5
      The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro5/5 starsSource: NetgalleyIt takes a rich imagination indeed to make a story like the real-life and still unsolved theft of $500 million worth of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston more interesting. Congratulations B.A. Shapiro, you have done just that and what a fantastic imagination you have!Claire Roth was, just three short years ago a graduate student with a promising career as a painter in her future. Thanks to one significant and utterly disastrous decision Claire’s bright future and budding reputation are derailed simultaneously leaving her known in the art world as The Great Pretender and her former professor (and lover) dead. Claire now spends her days diligently and expertly copying famous works of art for an on-line retailer and having little to no hope of making a new name for herself on the strength of her own paintings. And then one day the strikingly handsome and incredibly prominent art dealer and gallery owner, Aiden Markel shows up on Claire’s doorstep with a proposition. The proposition is both elegant and simple: copy one of the paintings long-thought lost in the Gardner Museum heist, make a ton of money, and earn yourself a one-woman show in Markel’s gallery. Markel’s delivery is so smooth and confident and Claire is, quite frankly so desperate, that she makes yet another significant and disastrous decision. The money is just too good to pass up, the one-woman show is an unexpected and once unfathomable opportunity and, according to Markel there is no way the dirty deed can be traced back to either one of them. From the moment the painting Claire is to copy arrives in her apartment she has some serious doubts about its authenticity. Given the sketchy nature of her job Claire chooses to keep those doubts to herself and sets to work copying the work of the great 19th century Impressionist master, Degas. This section of the book is one of its great strengths with fascinating background information about known and very successful forgers, the process by which one forges or copies a great master, and how the “original” work Claire is copying came be a part of Belle Gardner’s private collection. Shapiro flawlessly mixes fact and fiction to create a wonderfully detailed backstory involving Belle Gardner, Degas, and the building of one of the U.S.’s most important collections of art. Shapiro is very careful not to overdue the technical elements of the forging process so the story will appeal to a wide range of readers and not just those with a background in art and art history. As Claire works we learn more about her past and how she came to be known as the Great Pretender. Claire’s sad past elicits sympathy from the reader but also feeling of frustration as you see her walking into the same trap she found herself in previously. Again, Claire stupidly falls for the charms of an older man who has promised her things he just can’t deliver. And this, dear reader is where the story really, really gets good. Of course you know the entire scheme unravels and Claire’s only hope of saving herself and Aiden is to prove, beyond all doubt, that the “original” Degas she copied was in fact a forgery as well. Claire’s quest to prove the “original” Degas is a forgery leads to her having to reveal her role in the scheme as well as proving she copied to work by doing the whole thing again in front of a group of experts. This is by far the fastest-paced section of the novel and it brings the past and present together in a delightfully interesting way. All of the secrets, all of the schemes, and all of the plots come to light and not all is well in the end. The bottom line: this is a fantastically well-written bit of art historical fiction that I had a very, very hard time putting down once I got into the story. Getting into the story took about four pages, by the way. Both Claire and Belle’s respective pasts are intriguing and certainly inform the plot, the real forging information is fascinating and the drama of the plot will keep you from putting the book down. I love that Shapiro is willing to sacrifice the happiness of some her characters in favor of the overall plot and how her writing style is reminiscent of one of my favorite authors, Susan Vreeland. Shapiro is in no way a forgery (HA!) of Vreeland but a fine contemporary writing in the same vein. This novel will certainly appeal to lovers of mystery (the heist), art and art history as well as those interested in finely crafted and fast-paced reads.
    • 5/5
      The foggy ethics of the deal that the main character accepts at the start of the novel make for an immediately compelling premise, and the excellent writing keeps the tension high throughout the novel.But one of my favorite parts of the novel is the engaging descriptions of the art, from the artist's passion in observing others' art to the actual process of its creation and recreation--may not sound rivoting, but in this author's hands it is.One of the more beautiful page-turners that I've read...My only criticism may be in the resolution of the mystery of the lost painting--a bit too conveniently tied up.
    • 5/5
      Based on a real life, still unsolved art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, The Art Forger manages to include more details about brush strokes and forgery techniques than I knew existed in a gripping story of artistic obsession. Claire Roth is a struggling young artist, blacklisted by the art establishment for a perceived crime against one of their darlings. She pays her bills by copying famous works of art for an above board online retailer. Then she makes a devil's bargain by agreeing to forge one of the stolen paintings, a Degas masterpiece, in exchange for having her own work shown in a prestigious gallery owned by Aiden Markel, a man she has feeling for. Claire knows what she is doing is illegal, but like many characters in the book whose motivations complicate the plot, Claire for a time allows herself to be convinced that what she personally wants supports greater good. When Claire comes to suspect that something is not quite right about the painting Aiden has given her to copy, her investigation leads her to research the museum where the painting was hung, the museum's colorful, world traveling founder Isabella Gardner, and the life and techniques of the artist Degas. Interspersed between chapters told from Claire's point of view are lively nineteenth century letters about Degas and the European art scene of the time from Isabella Gardner to her beloved niece.
    • 4/5
      The Art Forger by B.A. ShapiroLove learning how things are done and how some can get away with it, forging art.This book is about Claire and 25 years later a stolen painting from a big heist has arrived at her studio. She has been hired out to repaint originals so she can have a showing.Til the painting shows up....travels overseas and dealings with the Mob appear in this book, such an action packed book. Loved hearing of the way the painting is done, such definite procedures.Felt story could've been told in ascending chronological order and been a great read. This book jumps around in town and I felt it was hard to follow that way. Few characters, easy to keep track of the main ones.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
    • 2/5
      Omg please please, research name origins. Let’s ignore the fact that all of the kids in prison have Latin American names... pronounce them correctly. It is not pronounced Ex avier, in Spanish x sounds like H.
    • 4/5
      The richness of detail makes this story so enjoyable to read. The descriptions of how Claire recreates the Degas masterpiece, how she determines authenticity, how she tracks down the real thing - it is all fascinating. The threads of Claire's personal life are no less engaging and the whole comes together in a way that makes the reader stop and consider how one knows if something is "real" or just a copy...
    • 4/5
      In Shapiro's The Art Forger, Claire Roth (who has a history of false attribution following her around, after she painted what became a very famous work for her boyfriend, who then put his name on it to sell to the MoMA) is asked by a local well-to-do gallery owner Aiden Markel to copy Degas' After the Bath, stolen from the Gardner Museum in 1990, for a private client, who will be told that her copy is the original. Claire makes copies of famous works for a living, since she's been blackballed from the legitimate art world of Boston, MA after the MoMA scandal. She knows what she's doing this time is questionable, probably illegal, but Markel makes her an offer she can't refuse: if she forges the painting (when someone copies a piece for the purpose of selling it as an original, it becomes forgery), Markel will give her a show, and Claire will be able to re-enter the art world with her own work. But things start to go wrong when Claire realizes that the original After the Bath is a forgery too...The Art Forger is split into three narratives: Claire's story in the present day, Claire's story three years ago, and letters from Isabella Gardner (the woman who created the Gardner Museum) to her fictional niece Amelia. Through the 'three years ago' narrative we find out why and how Claire was blackballed from the art world. The letters from Isabella to Amelia contribute to the mystery of Degas' After the Bath in the main narrative. Why is After the Bath a forgery? And where is the original? I was most interested in the 'three years ago' narrative, and wish it had been drawn out further. Isabella's letters were flat and uninteresting, and the subplot with her and Degas didn't add much to my reading experience.Character development in this novel is sketchy at best (hah, art pun). Claire, despite her past problems and current struggles, just doesn't come off as real or nuanced. She chooses bad boyfriends, she doesn't work hard to move away from her past scandal (why doesn't she just leave Boston? Or attempt to work through the scandal? Has she given up on her career?), and she is incredibly naïve in going along with Markel's scheme, trusting in his honor as...a shady businessman? Claire cries a lot and doesn't seem to have a lot going for her, and yet she has a circle of incredibly supportive and one-dimensional friends, whose purpose in the story is only to get Claire into places she couldn't ordinarily go.What saved the novel for me was the detail in art forgery. Shapiro discusses in some detail a variety of famous forgers and their methods, and she outlines the step-by-step process by which Claire ages her painting. I would have preferred even more detail about this process, including how to fake period paints and how Claire managed to match brushstroke for brushstroke. Or maybe she didn't have to. When the painting was stolen, there weren't high-def cameras that could record that level of detail. I was surprised that she didn't use gloves when painting her forgery. If something went awry and that painting ended up in the hands of anyone other than the shady underground art collectors, her prints would be all over it. It was this kind of technical detail that I most enjoyed, especially learning about the process of 'baking' a painting in between layers to speed up drying by years, and then the process of covering the finished work with India Ink and varnish, then wiping them so that only a little bit of 'age' would settle into the cracks. Also interesting was the description of why period canvasses were necessary and how they were stripped to preserve the craquelure (necessary for proving age).Despite the shallow characters and occasionally meandering story, I enjoyed The Art Forger, and I was interested in seeing the (outlandish and unlikely) mystery solved. The ending was very pat, with good and bad characters predictably getting their just desserts. I think for me personally, a nonfiction work on art forgery would be more entertaining and educational, but if you want your art history with some narrative, The Art Forger may be good for you.
    • 4/5
      I just finished reading The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro and was swept away into a world artforgerof art history, deception and romance. This book came out in October shortly after the high tech art heist at the Rotterdam Museum where works by Picasso, Gauguin, Matisse, and others were stolen. The book's debut couldn't have been timed more perfectly.Shapiro bases her novel on America's biggest unsolved art heist, the 1990 robbery at Boston's Isabella Gardner Stewart Museum, worth over $300 million! What if one these paintings suddenly reappears? In The Art Forger, the main character is Claire, an artist who is making a living doing Degas reproductions for an online retailer. Claire has already had her reputation tarnished in the art field when she is approached by a well-known gallery owner who offers her a Faustian bargain and brings one of the stolen masterpieces to her studio. If Claire will paint a forgery of one of the famous missing paintings, his gallery will do a show of her personal artwork. It is an offer she can't refuse, but as she examines the original painting further, she realizes that there are problems with the Degas painting. Could it be a forgery? Things are not what they appear in this thoroughly engaging romp in the art world. This title is a perfect read for book clubs!
    • 3/5
      I love the Gardner museum and am interested in anything to do with the heist, but I found this book rather disappointing. The plot was often predictable and towards the end pretty preposterous and the characters were thin and undeveloped. The letters supposedly written by Isabella I did not find convincing at all--it did not sound like the voice of a late19th/early 20th century woman. At least it was a pretty quick read.
    • 3/5
      Was this book originally intended to be a mystery for "young adults" ? Claire's childlike naivete is at such odds with her illegal, immoral art forgery as to be ridiculous. Is she an innocent deceiver? How could she not believe her work would be traced--the purchase of the giant oven would be enough. I DID enjoy the book and wanted to keep reading in spite of absurd situations such as Claire's wanting to get back into the Gardner basement after she's been released by the police. Shades of Nancy Drew!!
    • 4/5
      It is the detailed information about painting techniques, the artist's craft lore, and behind the scenes look into today's art world, with particular attention paid to copying/forging art, that lifts this book above the mundane.Claire, the painter/forger heroine with a heart of gold is rather flat and slow on the uptake. She is the Artist Wronged, betrayed by her fellow artist mentor/lover. As a result, she's outcast from major artistic recognition in spite of her superior talent. She's unlucky in later love, too, but doomed to suffer a happy ending.The plot revolves around a scheme by gallery owner Aiden Markel to return a stolen famous oil by Degas to the Gardener Museum while making some dough in the doing, and he needs Claire to supply a copy of it. The present day action involves the execution of this scheme but is interrupted by epistolary passages from the 19th C. past in the form of personal letters from Isabella Stewart Gardener to her niece, describing her adventures collecting fine art in Europe for her planned museum in America and her involvement with Degas. These letters, while fulfilling plot requirements, become tedious, largely due to their arch tone.There is no real tension or mystery in the novel. In fact, most readers will see through the element of mystery early on. What keeps one reading is all the factual research material referencing the art world/industry, technical details about oil painting and art forgery detection, and the history of art forgery presented in "case studies" that comprise the armature on which the supposed mystery is built.Shapiro has created a readable novel above the beach read category, but not a memorable one due to the thin characterization of her heroine and the "villain." Fortunately, I was curious enough about the factual information to keep turning the pages.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story was very well thought out, and executed in such a way that it moved quickly without the reader feeling like they have to catch up with the author. The technical descriptions of the painting and forging process were absolutely fascinating and did not, in any way, slow down the story. As someone who always wished for some artistic talent, but has always been found wanting, this window into the world of “the struggling artist” was an eye-opener for me. The relationships the main character has and builds through the novel seem genuine and plausible, and I did not feel anything was missing in the character development even in such a fast-paced novel. It is, above everything else, a mystery to solve, and I enjoyed guessing along with the main character where the lost painting might be, if it even was lost in the first place, and how it would or could be found. I would definitely look for something else from this author.
    • 4/5
      A very nice meld of fact and fiction with a modicum level of suspense. It was interesting, although somewhat disheartening, to learn about the world of forged art and knock-off prints. I did love Claire's thought process on coming to the conclusion that the Degas she was given to forge, was a forgery itself. Good read!
    • 4/5
      A very interesting look at the art world, and culpability. When is a forgery a forgery and not a copy? What responsibility does one have to people who have ostracized you? A great discussion title that will inspire you to look at art in a new way.Recommended
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this and read it in just two sittings.
    • 4/5
      Maybe it's my fascination with forgeries. Maybe's it's that the book is set in Boston, right near where I lived for several years. I'm sure it's partly both of those things, but I'm also sure that much of why I absolutely loved B. A. Shapiro's debut novel The Art Forger (Algonquin Books, 2012) is that it's just a good book.Claire Roth, a down-on-her-luck artist stuck doing reproduction work to make ends (sort of) meet, is surprised one day when a high-end Newbury Street gallery owner shows up and asks her to create a copy of a masterpiece to order. But this is not just any masterpiece: he asks Claire to create a copy of a Degas painting which she immediately recognizes as one stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the famous 1990 heist. Shapiro takes this basic plot and makes an absolutely wonderful tale of it, weaving in layer after layer of deceit, confusion, and historical detective work.As the story unfolds, we learn more about Claire's checkered past in the art world, delve into the dark underbelly of the art market and explore what might have been behind the Gardner thefts, and also take a flight of fancy back to the days of Mrs. Jack herself.I had to pace myself a bit so that I didn't zoom through this one all in one go. Shapiro clearly enjoyed the research process, and besides just being a good story, the novel also provides a readable take on just what forgery means and about the power of art and story more generally.Highly recommended.