The English Masterpiece by Katherine Reay
Published by Harper Muse
Publication date: June 10, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Bookshop
I don’t listen to a lot of audiobooks so it’s a delight when I take the time and it works out. The English Masterpiece is set in 1970s London and Lily is the assistant to Diana Gilden, the director of the modern art collection at the Tate Museum. This job is Lily’s chance to prove herself in the art world and hopefully, to become known as an artist herself. As the novel begins Picasso has recently died and the Tate is going to launch a massive retrospective of some of his works. This is a huge opportunity for Lily and she manages every detail of the event to perfection right up until she walks into the opening night gala, looks at one of the paintings and blurts out, “It’s a forgery.”
What follows is complete mayhem. The painting is owned by a wealthy British art collector who bought it upon Diana’s recommendation. He goes ballistic, the Tate shutters the exhibition, Scotland Yard is called in, and suddenly Lily is in the middle of the greatest scandal the art world has seen in decades.
The story is told by both Lily and Diana and the novel switches between the two, filling in Diana’s own past and how she achieved one of the most prestigious jobs in the art world and Lily’s more blue-collar life with an ailing mother and unemployed father as well as her own dreams to become an artist. Their back stories, combined with the mystery, interesting ancillary characters, and great narrators made The English Masterpiece easy listening and thoroughly enjoyable.
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*I received a free copy of this book from Libro.fm in exchange for an honest review.*
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