The Muse

May 23, 2016
Burton’s second novel (following The Miniaturist) is a complex, vividly drawn tale centering on a mysterious painting from 1930s Spain brought to a London art institute in 1967. The author brings together two striking story lines—one involving Trinidad-born Odelle Bastien, who works in late ’60s London at a posh art institute where she becomes the protégé of an eccentric office manager, Marjorie Quick, while adjusting to life in a new country. The other thread centers on Olive Schloss, a young Viennese woman whose family settles in a mansion in Spain in 1936. Olive’s aspirations to be a painter are quashed by her father’s misogynistic views toward women artists. Her life is overturned by the arrival of Isaac and Theresa Robles, local siblings who come to work at the mansion; he is a passionate revolutionary and artist, and she is a maid, but also a lost teenager looking for connection. The intricate way in which Burton pulls the two plots together is unexpected and impressive, a most original story about creative freedom, finding one’s voice, and the quest for artistic redemption.

A brilliant painting of uncertain provenance is at the center of Burton's [THE MINIATURIST] second historical novel. The saga unfolds in two time periods, featuring two women, Odelle Bastien, a poet and Trinidadian transplant to 1960s London, and Olive Schloss, a 19-year-old art lover in 1930s Andalusia. Narrator Bahni Turpin makes Odelle's island accent melodic and completely credible. Odelle encourages her friend to bring his painting to the attention of the art experts she works for. The painting's origins come under scrutiny, leading listeners to Olive, and her love for artist Isaac Robles. Maria Elena Infantino has a lovely voice; however, her delivery of Olive's storyline misses the mark, with characterizations bordering on caricature. Still, the women's stories are engrossing, and Turpin hits every note perfectly. S.J.H. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

April 1, 2016

In Burton's second novel (after The Miniaturist), Odelle, an aspiring Trinidadian poet leading a new life in Britain, meets Lawrie at a wedding. Lawrie has recently inherited a painting from his mother, and that artwork is at the center of a story that moves from 1960s London to a tiny Spanish village in 1936 where a Viennese Jewish art dealer, his troubled English wife, and their talented daughter live amid growing political unrest and become involved with a local family. The threads of issues such as family secrets, racial and gender prejudice, and the nature of talent are woven throughout the narrative, which moves among time periods seamlessly, peeling away the layers to find the truth of the painting and its creator. VERDICT Historical fiction lovers as well as fans of B.A. Shapiro's The Muralist and The Art Forger will appreciate the intriguing characters, skillful writing, and evocative atmosphere of two very different eras. Readers who enjoyed Burton's debut won't be disappointed. [See Prepub Alert, 1/11/16.]--Terry Lucas, Shelter Island P.L., NY

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2016

In the late 1930s, Olive Schloss lives with her parents, a Viennese Jewish art dealer and an English heiress, in a hardscrabble Spanish coastal village. There she befriends Teresa and her half-brother, Picasso wannabe Isaac, illegitimate children of the local landowner. Three decades later, Caribbean-born Odelle Bastien is working at London's famed Skelton Art Gallery when she discovers a painting that might be by Isaac, whose unexplained death (and unfulfilled promise) has long troubled the art world. And that's when the intrigue starts. From the author of the New York Times best-selling The Miniaturist; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
A thrilling painting with a mysterious provenance connects two bold young women, one in Civil War Spain, the other in mid-1960s England. British writer Burton (The Miniaturist, 2014) won multiple awards for her first book, an unusual historical novel set in 17th-century Amsterdam, and returns to themes of intrigue, creativity, and female empowerment in her second. The narrator of the 1967 storyline is Odelle Bastien, a Trinidadian immigrant and aspiring writer trying to find her way in London, where racism is more common than job opportunities for bright young black women. But life picks up after Odelle finds work at the Skelton Institute of Art and also meets Lawrie Scott, whose mother recently died, leaving him an unusual painting signed with the initials I.R. In the parallel 1936 storyline, the setting is Andalusia, where the wealthy, art-dealing Schloss family, originally from Vienna, has settled temporarily. Nineteen-year-old Olive Schloss falls in love with local artist Isaac Robles, whose watchful half sister, Teresa, acts as housekeeper to the Schlosses. Olive paints too, secretly but brilliantly, and persuades Isaac to present her work as his, in order to be taken seriously. But their affections are mismatched and become even more strained as "Isaac's" paintings are bought by Peggy Guggenheim and the country's political mood darkens. This split-screen narration, though intriguingly detailed, lacks the freshness and persuasive emotional intensity of The Miniaturist, and its central premise--Olive's refusal to own her groundbreaking work--is wobbly. But Burton's devotion to her female characters sustains the novel even when the plotting wavers. Tidily if dully concluded, this second novel fails to hit the same sweet, wholly integrated spot as its predecessor, but Burton fans will be happy to reunite with her committed storytelling.

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