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.

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.

June 1, 2016
Like her best-selling The Miniaturist (2014), Burton's second novel is a smart blend of literary and commercial fiction with intriguing characters and a compelling mystery at its center. In 1967 London, Odelle Bastien, a Trinidadian emigre with literary aspirations, begins dating a man who inherited an unusual portrait of two girls from his late mother. Its discovery excites and shocks Odelle's employers at the Skelton Institute of Art, since few works by the elusive left-wing painter Isaac Robles, who vanished during the Spanish Civil War, are known to exist. In 1936 Andalusia, Isaac and his half sister, Teresa, become involved with the wealthy Schloss family, who are renting a nearby villa. Knowing that her own artistic efforts would be slighted by her art-dealer father, daughter Olive keeps them secret, a choice that has profound aftereffects. Both historical settings are deftly evoked, and the alternating story lines enhance the charged atmosphere. Burton creatively infuses historical fiction with mystery in her exploration of the far-reaching consequences of deception, the relationship between art and artist, and the complex trajectory of women's desires.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)