“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.
- 320 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Map of Vienna, Austria
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Chapter 1: Maria 1938
- Chapter 2: Adele 1886
- Chapter 3: Maria 1938
- Chapter 4: Adele 1898
- Chapter 5: Maria 1938
- Chapter 6: Adele 1899
- Chapter 7: Adele 1900
- Chapter 8: Adele 1900
- Chapter 9: Maria 1938
- Chapter 10: Adele 1900
- Chapter 11: Maria 1938
- Chapter 12: Adele 1900
- Chapter 13: Maria 1938
- Chapter 14: Adele 1900
- Chapter 15: Maria 1938
- Chapter 16: Adele 1901
- Chapter 17: Maria 1938
- Chapter 18: Adele 1902
- Chapter 19: Adele 1902
- Chapter 20: Maria 1938
- Chapter 21: Adele 1903
- Chapter 22: Adele 1903
- Chapter 23: Adele 1906
- Chapter 24: Maria 1938
- Chapter 25: Adele 1908
- Chapter 26: Maria 1938
- Chapter 27: Adele 1909
- Chapter 28: Maria 1939
- Chapter 29: Adele 1914
- Chapter 30: Maria 1940
- Chapter 31: Adele 1921
- Chapter 32: Maria 1942
- Chapter 33: Adele 1923
- Chapter 34: Maria 1945
- Chapter 35: Maria 1965
- Chapter 36: Maria 1998
- Chapter 37: Maria 1998
- Chapter 38: Maria 1999
- Chapter 39: Maria 1999
- Chapter 40: Maria 2000
- Chapter 41: Maria 2004
- Chapter 42: Maria 2004
- Chapter 43: Maria 2006
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgments
- Reading Group Guide
- About Laurie Lico Albanese
- Copyright
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Yes, you can access Stolen Beauty by Laurie Lico Albanese in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Literature General. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.