Stolen Beauty, Laurie Lico Albanese
Stolen Beauty, Laurie Lico Albanese
3 Rating(s)
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Stolen Beauty

Author: Laurie Lico Albanese, Gibson Frazier

Narrator: Gabra Zackman, Madeleine Maby

Unabridged: 9 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/07/2017


Synopsis

“A powerful and important tale of love and war, art and family…I was transported.” —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author

“Albanese artfully weaves Adele’s story with Maria’s harrowing life under the Nazis, but it’s hard to read Stolen Beauty without seeing ugly echoes in today’s headlines. Seven decades after World War II, have we learned nothing?” —USA TODAY

From the dawn of the twentieth century to the devastation of World War II, this exhilarating novel of love, war, art, and family gives voice to two extraordinary women and brings to life the true story behind the creation and near destruction of Gustav Klimt’s most remarkable paintings.

In the dazzling glitter of 1903 Vienna, Adele Bloch-Bauer—young, beautiful, brilliant, and Jewish—meets painter Gustav Klimt. Wealthy in everything but freedom, Adele embraces Klimt’s renegade genius as the two awaken to the erotic possibilities on the canvas and beyond. Though they enjoy a life where sex and art are just beginning to break through the façade of conventional society, the city is also troubled by a disturbing increase in anti-Semitism as political hatred simmers in the shadows of Adele’s coffeehouse afternoons and cultural salons.

Nearly forty years later, Adele’s niece Maria Altmann is a newlywed when the Nazis invade Austria—and overnight, her beloved Vienna becomes a war zone. When her husband is arrested and her family is forced out of their stately home, Maria must summon the courage and resilience that is her aunt’s legacy if she is to survive and keep her loved ones—and their history—alive.

Will Maria and her family escape the grip of Nazi rule? And what will become of the paintings for which her aunt sacrificed nearly everything?

Impeccably researched and a “must-read for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Paula McLain’s Circling the Sun” (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Stolen Beauty juxtaposes passion and discovery against hatred and despair, and shines a light on our ability to love, to destroy, and above all, to endure.

About Laurie Lico Albanese

Laurie Lico Albanese has published fiction, poetry, journalism, travel writing, creative nonfiction, and memoir. Her books include Blue Suburbia: Almost a Memoir, Lynelle by the Sea, and The Miracles of Prato, co-written with art historian Laura Morowitz. Laurie is married to a publishing executive and is the mother of two children. To learn more visit her at LaurieLicoAlbanese.com.

About Gabra Zackman

Gabra Zackman knows romance. Her clever and “thrilling romantic caper” (Library Journal) Bod Squad series was inspired by the more than one hundred romance and women’s fiction titles she has narrated for audio. She divides her time between her native New York City and Denver, Colorado.


Reviews

I am a sucker for a good cover so when I saw this one, I quickly put it at the top of my list and admired it every time I sat it down on my coffee table. Not only was it a pretty cover, it was a pretty awesome story. Two parallel stories told in different eras. Adele, in the late 1880's, finding hers......more

Adele Bloch-Bauer living in Austria in the late 1880's, from a family of means is a strong , passionate independent young woman with a thirst for knowledge of art , philosophy, literature . At a time when it wasn't acceptable for women to pursue such interests, she follows her brother's dying wish w......more

Goodreads review by Carol

What a beautiful, glittering book cover for this novel! It’s reminiscent of the gold leaf painting by Gustav Klimt that immortalized Adele Bloch-Bauer, one of two central characters within this historical fiction and the real life model for his 1907 painting, “Woman in Gold”. The author weaves toget......more