The Muse

A Novel

By: Jessie Burton

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Maria Elena Infantino

Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

From the number-one internationally best-selling author of The Miniaturist comes a captivating and brilliantly realized story of two young women - a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London and a bohemian woman in 1930s Spain - and the powerful mystery that ties them together.

England, 1967. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery. Drawn into a complex web of secrets and deceptions, Odelle does not know what to believe or who she can trust, including her mesmerizing colleague, Marjorie Quick.

Spain, 1936. Olive Schloss, the daughter of a Viennese Jewish art dealer and an English heiress, follows her parents to Arazuelo, a poor, restless village on the southern coast. She grows close to Teresa, a young housekeeper, and Teresa's half brother, Isaac Robles, an idealistic and ambitious painter newly returned from the Barcelona salons. A dilettante buoyed by the revolutionary fervor that will soon erupt into civil war, Isaac dreams of being a painter as famous as his countryman, Picasso.

Raised in poverty, these illegitimate children of the local landowner revel in exploiting the wealthy Anglo-Austrians. Insinuating themselves into the Schloss family's lives, Teresa and Isaac help Olive conceal her artistic talents with devastating consequences that will echo into the decades to come.

Rendered in exquisite detail, The Muse is a passionate and enthralling tale of desire, ambition, and the ways in which the tides of history inevitably shape and define our lives.

©2016 Peebo & Pilgrim Limited (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

not quite

struggle to get through. dont like narrator during 2nd storyline. too ridged for my taste.

Compelling

Probative consideration of creating art during WWII. Offers the various lenses of personal, political, gender and time to interpret the act of creating, and the final piece itself.

Engaging Storyline

This story bridges two very different worlds together with two very different protagonists. At first I didn’t know what one had to do with the other, but the story of a British-Austrian girl living in 1930s Spain and a Caribbean immigrant woman in 1960s London come together lovely. Good writing, fascinating historical contact, and a nice twist. Truly the story of many complex characters.

The Muse

Not my normal choice of genre, however, I am pleased that's I stretched my limits. I enjoyed the story, though it did drag for me in the parts in Spain. I liked the narrators

Masterfully crafted

Two wonderful stories alternately told that take place in different times and place that masterfully meld together in the end but not necessarily as you may think. The character development brings the them to life and you feel they are real. Very worth the read. A great book.

Uneven narration

Infantino seems to end many sentences and even words in a questioning tone. This did not enhance the narrative spell.

Just Beautiful!

I would recommend this book to anyone! It is wonderful to hear the voices of a diversity of people including that of a Caribbean migrant woman like myself so well depicted and interwoven in a story in which her identity is not the focus yet she is the center storyteller.

Adding to the list of my all time favorites

This was just plain good. I have begun listening to it again.
The narrators were fantastic. The different storylines were absorbing and exciting.
It's got a lot of drama, some suspense, mystery of course, and romance, also of course - all well constructed and intertwined.
Likable and loveable characters, a few unlikeable, but they were meant to be...villains....
Honestly, I love everything about this book.
#art mystery #historical #female protagonists # romance

better than expectedly

I enjoyed this book. didn't think I would but the performance as we as the story were great.

One of the readers is terrible!! The one who read the "Olive" sections. Sing song as if she had not read the script!

The woman who read the sections about Olive is so bad at reading that I almost stopped listening to this very good story. She made listening miserable, sign song, inappropriate inflections. Be warned!