Three years ago, painter Claire Roth became a pariah in the Boston art scene, thanks to her role in a scandal that called into question exactly who created a buzzy new painting. Since then, she hasn't been able to exhibit or sell her own work, and is instead working for an online company that creates reproductions of famous works for its clients. But while she's doing this, she gets an offer that's as dangerous as it is incredible: can she duplicate a long-lost Degas painting so that one copy can be sold to a foreign collector and the original can be returned to the museum from which it was stolen?
Loosely based on the 1990 real-life theft of 13 paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, this novel gives insight into Gardner and her antics, Degas and his techniques, and the world of contemporary art, both legitimate and forgery. I loved learning about the ways in which forgers make paintings pass authentication tests (though they have certainly changed since this book was published in 2012), as well as the techniques artists use to create different effects. And I especially enjoyed learning about a few real forgers from history, whom I may have to research more (especially the guy who fooled Nazis with his forgeries). There were a few "I don't buy it" moments, but all in all, this was fun.
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