The Perfect Landscape, Ragna Sigurdardottir
The Perfect Landscape, Ragna Sigurdardottir
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The Perfect Landscape

Author: Ragna Sigurdardottir, Sarah Bowen

Narrator: Mary Robinette Kowal

Unabridged: 6 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/16/2012

Synopsis

When a wealthy patron donates a valuable landscape painting to Reykjavik’s art museum, the staff can hardly believe its luck. It was painted by one of Iceland’s most beloved artists, and the acquisition is sure to elevate the museum’s already sterling reputation.For newly arrived art theorist Hanna, the acquisition is a chance to begin her job on a high note; after all, she’s something of an expert on the artist. But when the museum’s conservator suggests the painting might be a fake, Hanna realizes the museum’s reputation is not the only one in danger of crumbling.And so she sets out to authenticate the painting, drawing on every ounce of skill that she possesses. What she doesn’t know she vows to learn, venturing deep into the shadowy world of art forgery. Only then will Hanna be able to strip away the varnish of the past to uncover the truth.Nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

About Ragna Sigurdardottir

Ragna Sigurdardottir is a native of Reykjavik, Iceland, and the author of five novels. She studied French and fine arts in Aix-en-Provence before attending the Icelandic School for Arts and Crafts. After earning a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Jan van Eyck Academy in the Netherlands, she worked as an artist and writer in Rotterdam and later in Denmark. She eventually returned home to Iceland, where she spent a decade working as an art critic for Icelandic newspapers. Currently she studies art theory at the University of Iceland and is writing her sixth novel. She lives with her husband and their two daughters on the outskirts of Reykjavik, just down the street from the North Atlantic Ocean.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Virginia on February 01, 2013

This was the best-looking of a bunch of duds available to me for $1 on a LivingSocial coupon. I only picked it because it was written by an Icelander. What a nice surprise. Sarah Bowen's translation is full of plain, straightforward sentences that give the story a sense of trustworthiness. This text......more

Goodreads review by Bev on March 12, 2013

It's always difficult to rate books that I'm reading in translation--particularly when they don't strike me as particularly awesome. I never know if it's really the story and the way it was originally written or if something funky has happened in translation. The Perfect Landscape by Ragna Sigurdard......more

Goodreads review by Carol on June 27, 2019

I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. I found the book a little plodding and wondered whether it would read differently in its original language. Translated books are at the mercy of the translator. Or maybe it was a very accurate translation and the original was just a little slow and anti-climact......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on August 07, 2019

I'm so hungry for any novel about the artworld (especially curators) and about Iceland (only ones that don't have occult subjects - why so many of these??), that I figured this book was a double win! But it's just okay. The story is interesting -- about a possibly forgery of an Icelandic landscape p......more

Goodreads review by Phil on November 25, 2017

Hanna has returned to Reykjavik to take on a new job in as director of a section of an art museum. On the first day, the gallery receives an exquisite gift of a painting from a friend of one of her new work colleagues by a renowned icelandic painter that cost the friend €15 million but it is Hanna a......more

Quotes

“Any lover of art or mystery will find this novel perfectly satisfying.” —Booklist

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