The Painting by Alison Booth

 

The Painting by Alison Booth.

Published 15th July 2021 by Red Door.

From the cover of the book:

When Anika Molnar flees her home country of Hungary not long before the break-up of the Soviet Union, she carries only a small suitcase – and a beautiful and much-loved painting of an auburn-haired woman in a cobalt blue dress from her family’s hidden collection.

Arriving in Australia, Anika moves in with her aunt in Sydney, and the painting hangs in pride of place in her bedroom. But one day it is stolen in what seems to be a carefully planned theft, and Anika’s carefree life takes a more ominous turn.

Sinister secrets from her family’s past and Hungary’s fraught history cast suspicion over the painting’s provenance, and she embarks on a gripping quest to uncover the truth.

Hungary’s war-torn past contrasts sharply with Australia’s bright new world of opportunity in this moving and compelling mystery.

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When Anika Molnar fled her home country of Hungary for freedom beyond the Iron Curtain in Australia, she was looking forward to a life full of opportunity without the suspicion that clouds the existence of all living under the watchful eye of Soviet masters. So far, her new life has been just what she was hoping for, apart from the usual struggles of a newly arrived immigrant: living with her Aunt Tabilla in a quiet Sydney suburb, she is studying to be an architect, and working to view life in a more positive way, but she misses her family terribly and cannot imagine how she will ever see them again.

Other than a small suitcase, Anika brought with her very little in the way of possessions, apart from a small painting of an auburn-haired woman in a cobalt blue dress which once belonged to her Uncle Tomas, that she intended to give to her aunt as a reminder of her late husband. Since the painting only reminds Tabilla of all she has lost in Hungary following the death of Tomas, and her own traumatic flight after the Hungarian Revolution, she gifts the painting to Anika instead. Anika places the picture on her bedroom wall as a reminder of the things she too has lost.

One weekend, Anika decides to take the painting to an event at The Art Gallery of New South Wales hoping they will be able to tell her something about its history. Her grandmother always told her it was by a Hungarian artist and Tomas acquired it during WWII, but she knows nothing else about it, not even the name of the artist. When she discovers that this painting is actually by a famous French Impressionist her life is turned upside down, and she is left with many questions she has no answers to. How can she ever find out the truth when the only people she can ask are trapped thousands of miles away? 

When the painting is stolen from Anika's bedroom wall one afternoon, seemingly in a well planned operation, she struggles with the fact that she may never know the truth about not only this painting, but the others that hang away from prying eyes in her grandmother's apartment back home in Hungary. The only way to find her answers, and settle her worries about her family's past is to head back to Hungary and ask some uncomfortable questions to her loved ones - and with the fall of the Berlin Wall, her chance has finally come.

The Painting is a slow burning, and complex, genre busting combination of mystery, thriller and romance, which beautifully contrasts the idea of what it means to be free by comparing life in Australia with that under the weight of the oppressive regime in Hungary during the Cold War - and in doing so, takes us on a journey filled with raw and uncomfortable truths that have been kept as closely guarded family secrets for so long. 

While I am not about to delve into what Anika discovers about the painting, her family and herself in her quest to uncover the truth, I can tell you that this compelling and well-researched novel will take you to some dark places. Alison Booth writes movingly about the horrific events that took place in Hungary during WWII in those terrible days when Nazi occupation was replaced with an equally brutal new regime in the form of the Russian army, and the way this affected the lives of those forced to endure what followed. 

Interestingly, she does not do this with a blow by blow account of events, but rather through the gradual unveiling of the truth through the interactions of Anika with her family members, highlighting how their lives were shaped by events and exploring the disparity between their outlooks and behaviours. In many ways, the painting itself is not the central theme here, but rather a device to show the understanding that comes with openness, to acknowledge the pain of the past, and to to bring about redemption and forgiveness, which I found intriguing.

Inevitably, this is a story full of poignant echoes of grief and loss in many forms, but it is also thrums with the deep love of family, and examines the myriad ways in which we remember the past. It's evocative, emotional and engrossing, with an ending that ties up all the loose ends with a lovely message of hope. 

The Painting is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats from your favourite book retailer.

Thank you to Red Door for sending me a paperback proof of this book in return for an honest review and to Helen Richardson of Helen Richardson PR for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Alison Booth was born in Melbourne, brought up in Sydney and has worked in the UK and in Australia as a professor as well as a novelist. Alison’s work has been translated into French and has also been published by Reader’s Digest Select Editions in both Asia and Europe. 

Alison, who holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics, is an active public speaker and has participated in many writers’ festivals and literary events.