The Art Forger

By: B. A. Shapiro

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art, today worth over $500 million, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there's more to this crime than meets the eye.

Making a living reproducing famous artworks for a popular online retailer and desperate to improve her situation, Claire is lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting - a Degas masterpiece stolen from the Gardner Museum - in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But when that very same long-missing Degas painting is delivered to Claire's studio, she begins to suspect that it may itself be a forgery.

Her desperate search for the truth leads Claire into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since the late 19th century may be the only evidence that can now save her life.

©2012 Barbara Shapiro (P)2012 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"A clever, twisty novel about art, authenticity, love, and betrayal. B. A. Shapiro knows about Degas, and she knows about art theft and forgery, and she also knows how to tell a gripping story." (Tom Perrotta)

Art History, Intrigue, Love

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! And I have. Great story on so many levels. You get an understanding of painting, the gallery/art world politics, a who-done-it and a love story all rolled into this "can't put down" book.

Engrossing forage into art forgery and intrigue

This a page turner throughout: a fascinating, imperiled protagonist, plenty of twists, and good pacing. The background on art forgery, Boston, and museum politics is enlightening and never extraneous to the character's perspective. As an oil painter, I also appreciated the artistic vision of the characters, as well as the personal history of famous painters which wove throughout the story.

Fantastic Mystery/Thriller

Friends of mine visited the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum recently, and I was intrigued by their retelling of the infamous heist. I added B.A. Shapiro’s The Art Forger to my TBR list after being regaled with their stories of the museum. While The Art Forger is not about the theft per se, it is a novel that is tangentially related to the event and the still missing works of art.
Once I started the audio-version of the book, I was hooked. I did find the unexplained references to Claire’s past troubles confusing in the first three chapters, however, by chapter four the author starts to slowly reveal how Claire came to be the leper of the art world. That layered reveal feels like a parallel to the process by which Claire creates a forgery of Degas’ After the Bath.
Claire is a talented artist who is stymied by her repeated bad decisions. Leading the life of the literal starving artist, she is easily tempted by a Faustian offer from one of the most powerful art dealers in town, Aiden Markel. Her struggles with her past decisions and the ethics of the situation are eventually replaced with the lure of the reward—a one woman show that is guaranteed to make her an overnight success. Neither she nor Markel bargain on falling for one another. Markel doesn’t feel fully developed through much of the story, but I think that is necessary in order to keep him more of a mystery and to keep both Claire and the reader guessing about his morals and intents. His bargain with Claire is questionable and seems too altruistic, however, as Claire begins to trust him more and eventually succumbs to a romantic relationship with him, I let down my guard as well and put him in the protagonist role.
The story tension is palpable and steadily increases as Claire manically works on the forgery as well as creating enough works for her show. Her study of Degas’ technique and her discoveries of how master forgers created their works is fascinating as is how Claire mimics those techniques using modern-day technology. As the plot thickened and deadlines approached, I found my stomach as tied up in knots as Claire. As the story approaches its zenith, it very much feels that Claire is on a collision course with disaster. What seemed so right and relatively easy becomes not only calamitous but dangerous.
The present-day story is interspersed with letters from Isabella Stewart Gardener to her niece depicting her addiction to collecting art as well as her flirtations with Degas. The use of the letters to give readers some background information about the history of the museum was a creative technique that left me wanting for more. It created more mystery throughout the book. While Shapiro’s story is more about Claire’s need for redemption, her ambition as an artist, and Markel’s zealous desires, it is also a smart mystery. The Art Forger will make you question what you might be willing to do to realize your dreams, while you read Shapiro’s entertaining page-turner.

Suspense from beginning to end.

If you have any interest in how the art world works, the history of the Gardner museum theft, or fine art forgery, you will love this book. Excellently narrated, superbly crafted suspense mystery. Well worth reading .

Great: Characters, Plot, Performance

If you could sum up The Art Forger in three words, what would they be?

imaginative
depth
entertaining

What did you like best about this story?

The way in which it was written, how it jumped between present day happenings and the letters of Isabella Gardner.

Which character – as performed by Xe Sands – was your favorite?

Obviously Claire. But in general I found Xe Sands performance of all characters to be one of the best I've heard on Audible so far.

Any additional comments?

Holy goodness. This was an excellent read. It was thrilling and easy to read. I enjoyed the characters and plot. It was predictable, yet unpredictable all at the same time.

The audiobook was a delight. The narrator did a fantastic job without being too theatrical. I would highly recommend to young adults and adults alike. Not an overly romantic novel, even though the plot may suggest so.

Enjoyed the Story

Very good. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys art and history and such and so on. Yes.

Didn't Expect to Love It

Even though I have always wanted to take an Art Appreciation course, I didn't expect to really like this book. But my sister recommended it highly. Well, I was hooked!! Maybe not right away, but it did happen. I learned much about art and the art world. That was crucial to the story. Yes the ending was slightly predictable but was still more than wonderful!! This was one of those books that I truly did not want to end.

Parts in the end dragged on slightly (the never ending drama between Claire and Aiden, pursuit by law enforcement authorities) but it was worth it overall.

This is exactly what the art world is like

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Ok, this is nothing at all like the art world that actually exists. This book is really over the top silly, which would be fine if it wasn't also just bad. The ethical positions that the character takes over and over again are not just questionable, but wrong. The storyline is extremely scattered and there are a lot of pointless subplots that peter out with no resolution.

What aspect of Xe Sands’s performance would you have changed?

Poor lady. The character was so annoying that I don't think any narrator could have made her likeable, but Sands has a nasal inflection to her voice that really underscored the character's flaws.

Interesting Main Character

The Art Forger tells the story of the recovery of a painting (perhaps) from the famous Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. The main character - the art forger - is well drawn. Shapiro did a good job creating a character who is nice, though a bit simpering, but is able to tamp down her morals for money. Usually characters who do this are drawn to be sinister so we do not like them. This was a pretty realistic depiction of the choices perfectly nice people make when weighing options. The story itself I found to be just average. An interesting companion is the non-fiction book Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures which is written by the FBI agent who worked on the Gardner Heist.

ENGAGING

Where does The Art Forger rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

At an eight out of ten. good story overall

Would you be willing to try another book from B. A. Shapiro? Why or why not?

Yes

Which scene was your favorite?

the stages of painting the artwork was the most interesting

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no

Any additional comments?

Its a good story. A bit too much is given away as you hear letters from Bel Gardner but the end twists enough to keep it interesting. Wish the main character was stronger but...