Stolen Beauty

A Novel

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Pub Date 07 Feb 2017 | Archive Date 30 Mar 2017

Description

“A powerful and important tale of love and war, art and family…I was transported.” —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author

“Albanese artfully weaves Adele’s story with Maria’s harrowing life under the Nazis, but it’s hard to read Stolen Beauty without seeing ugly echoes in today’s headlines. Seven decades after World War II, have we learned nothing?” —USA TODAY

From the dawn of the twentieth century to the devastation of World War II, this exhilarating novel of love, war, art, and family gives voice to two extraordinary women and brings to life the true story behind the creation and near destruction of Gustav Klimt’s most remarkable paintings.

In the dazzling glitter of 1900 Vienna, Adele Bloch-Bauer—young, beautiful, brilliant, and Jewish—meets painter Gustav Klimt. Wealthy in everything but freedom, Adele embraces Klimt’s renegade genius as the two awaken to the erotic possibilities on the canvas and beyond. Though they enjoy a life where sex and art are just beginning to break through the façade of conventional society, the city is also exhibiting a disturbing increase in anti-Semitism, as political hatred foments in the shadows of Adele’s coffee house afternoons and cultural salons.

Nearly forty years later, Adele’s niece Maria Altmann is a newlywed when the Nazis invade Austria—and overnight, her beloved Vienna becomes a war zone. When her husband is arrested and her family is forced out of their home, Maria must summon the courage and resilience that is her aunt’s legacy if she is to survive and keep her family—and their history—alive.

Will Maria and her family escape the grip of Nazis’ grip? And what will become of the paintings that her aunt nearly sacrificed everything for?

Impeccably researched and a “must-read for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Paula McLain’s Circling the Sun” (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Stolen Beauty intertwines the tales of two remarkable women across more than a hundred years. It juxtaposes passion and discovery against hatred and despair, and shines a light on our ability to love, to destroy, and above all, to endure.
“A powerful and important tale of love and war, art and family…I was transported.” —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author

“Albanese artfully weaves Adele’s story with Maria’s harrowing...

A Note From the Publisher

Please reach out to AtriaPublicity@simonandschuster.com with questions about review timing, interviews, etc. Please hold all reviews on consumer facing websites until late January/early February 2017. Thanks!

Please reach out to AtriaPublicity@simonandschuster.com with questions about review timing, interviews, etc. Please hold all reviews on consumer facing websites until late January/early February...


Advance Praise

"This sensual and mesmerizing novel brings to vivid life Gustav Klimt and his greatest muse and model, Adele Bloch-Bauer. For fans of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale and Paula McLain's Circling the Sun, Stolen Beauty is a must-read. I tore through the pages." – Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

"Laurie Lico Albanese has given us a powerful and important tale of love and war, art and family. Filled with lush prose and vivid historical detail, STOLEN BEAUTY is a work simultaneously intimate and sweeping in its scope. I was transported; I loved being swept up into the glorious, golden era of fin de siecle Vienna." – Allison Pataki, New York Times Bestselling Author of SISI: EMPRESS ON HER OWN

"This sensual and mesmerizing novel brings to vivid life Gustav Klimt and his greatest muse and model, Adele Bloch-Bauer. For fans of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale and Paula McLain's Circling the...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781501131981
PRICE $26.00 (USD)
PAGES 320

Average rating from 40 members


Featured Reviews

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Vienna in 1903 is a land of beauty and enchantment. Adele Bloch-Bauer is a young, beautiful Jewish woman who has a fateful meeting with painter Gustave Klimt. Their passion for life and for each other draws them into a world of sensuous pleasure that is very different from the conventional world Adele knows. But time is running out for the young lovers as anti-Semitism grows and spreads. In 1943, Adele’s niece Maria, is a happy newlywed when the Nazis invade Austria, and overnight, Maria’s world crumbles. Maria’s husband is arrested, her family forced to leave their home and belongings behind. Albanese brings to life two of history’s most fascinating women, the woman who inspired Klimt’s Woman in Gold and her niece, who fought to have the painting returned after it was stolen by the Nazis. An unforgettable tale of heroism

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Followers of Adele Bloch-Bauer and Maria Altmann have to read this book. Albanese crafts a deft fictional tale around the Woman In Gold and her supporting cast that is riveting and makes the reader feel like they are part of the story. Readers know how the story ends, but it does not interfere with the suspense of the story. Great job!

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