Somerville Reads: Meet B. A. Shapiro, author of The Art Forger

Join us as we welcome B. A. Shapiro, author of this year's Somerville Reads selection, The Art Forger.

On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art worth over $500 million were

stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains

the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling

young artist, is about to discover that there’s more to this crime than

meets the eye. Claire makes her living reproducing famous works of art

for a popular online retailer. Desperate to improve her situation, she

lets herself be lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a

powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting—one of the Degas

masterpieces stolen from the Gardner Museum—in exchange for a one-woman

show in his renowned gallery. But when the long-missing Degas painting

is delivered to Claire’s studio, she begins to suspect that it may

itself be a forgery. Claire’s search for the truth about the painting’s

origins leads her into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since

the late nineteenth century may be the only evidence that can now save

her life. B. A. Shapiro’s razor-sharp writing and rich plot twists make The Art Forger

an absorbing literary thriller that treats us to three centuries of

forgers, art thieves, and obsessive collectors. It’s a dazzling novel

about seeing—and not seeing—the secrets that lie beneath the canvas.

[publisher's description]

Copies of The Art Forger in a variety of formats, including

e-books and audiobooks, are available for check out at all Somerville

Library locations. Reserve your copy today!

Somerville Reads is a project that promotes literacy and community by

encouraging people all over the City to read and discuss books on the

same theme.