Unknown from the portrait

What do Gustav Klimt, an American billionaire and a young student from Texas have in common? More than you might think at first glance. All of them have had their lives touched by a portrait of an unknown woman, a work with a history full of surprising twists and unanswered questions.
Portrait of a Lady, a painting created by Gustav Klimt in Vienna in 1910, was purchased by an unknown collector in 1916. A year later it was reworked by the artist, then in 1997 it was stolen from the modern art museum in Piacenza, only to reappear undamaged in its gardens two years later.
To this day, no art expert, curator or police investigator has any idea who the young woman in the portrait is, or what secrets lie behind the turbulent history of her likeness.
Author Camille de Peretti masterfully weaves the life story of this woman and the generations of her descendants, spanning from the streets of Vienna at the beginning of the last century, through Manhattan during the economic crisis after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, to Texas in the eighties, and present-day New York, Vienna and Piacenza, Italy.
The novel, which spans the 20th century, tells a story of love and disappointment, of insurmountable social differences, of the American dream and of the dark secrets of the past. The author vividly portrays the fates of the individual protagonists, from Martha, a poor single mother in Vienna during the First World War, to a New York shoeshine boy who dreams of striking it rich on the stock market in the interwar period, and finally to the golden American youth of the 90s and the present day. The individual storylines gradually intertwine until a captivating historical drama unfolds before your eyes.

Published in translation by Veronika Lásková.