Painting of Sorrow

By: Virginia Winters

Narrated by: Virginia Ferguson

Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

The painting and the woman, both hiding in plain sight. And a killer who targets both.

Sarah Downing, an art conservator hiding in witness protection, identifies a lost masterpiece by Caravaggio. History says it burned in WWII Berlin, but here it is, on her easel.

Someone betrays Sarah - an agent, a friend? Soon she is fighting to save the painting and herself.  

What Sarah does next sends her from Kingston to Italy to rural Ontario in her desperate attempt to survive, save the Caravaggio and rebuild her life.

By the author of the exciting suspense series, Dangerous Journeys.

©2018 Virginia Winters (P)2019 Virginia Winters

Painting of Sorrow

Art and history will be forever intertwined in a loving embrace. For what was painted in history often resurfaces in the rarest of times and in various or exciting ways. It takes a keen eye and a particular appreciation to enjoy all types of art pieces, but for Sarah Downing, she can spot them as they come. Winters has depicted an invigorating story with elements of mystery, suspense, wonder, and history allowing her readers to get lost in the wonders of art.

Sarah Downing is an art conservator who has a couple of secrets up her sleeve. From what appears to have been an immensely gratifying life of an artist, she has her PhD and resides in a nice and cozy little place in Ontario. Then, she comes across what she believes to be an original Caravaggio masterpiece that was thought to have been destroyed in fire during World War II in Berlin. With the hype following the lost masterpiece, Sarah becomes engrossed in wanting to save the painting after everyone is trying to hush her up about testing it. She doesn’t intend for her past to make a breakthrough in her search for answers though. Sarah’s ex-husband is released from prison and makes his way to Sarah’s neighborhood after ten years of hiding. With her death in mind, being the woman who put him away in the first place, he isn’t going to stop until he gets what he came for. Not even witness protection can save her this time as she hides the painting and makes a getaway for Italy. Knowing that there has to be some type of leak in the program for Jimmy to be able to find her after all these years, she takes it upon herself to run. She knows that she will fight until her dying breath to save herself and this painting from destruction from those who are after her. The only man that she wants to run to, having a love for the art piece the same as herself, may already be in danger along with everyone else who has tried to help her and knows too much. Can she find a safe place to rebuild her life again or will it be too late?

Winters has an alluring mystery mixed in with the beautiful world of art history. The characters are well developed and original. While the story is a bit slow in the beginning, the story does pick up a little once the ex-husband comes into the picture. Since this review is complimenting the audiobook, Ferguson’s vocal relay is clear and concise throughout the story. She does provide differentiation between characters, but she is a very slow narrator. From the relay, it appears that the story is well-written; however, the narrator annunciates each word too drastically causing either a clucking over exasperating word formations that sound forced. If you are a reader of art mysteries and suspense, you may want to look into this book.

A copy of this book was provided to Turning Another Page by Audiobookworm Promotions and in no way affects the honesty of this review. We provide a four-star rating to Painting of Sorrow by Virginia Winters.

Painting of Sorrow

Painting of Sorrow by Virginia Winters pulled me in from the very beginning. Lately I have been into "art mystery" audiobooks and I really enjoyed this one. Elements of it are thought provoking, while other things are not believable. I didn't think the US Witness Protection Program moved people to other countries, Stolen art, lost treasures, mysterious finds are things that intrigue me. The premise of this book is great. The point of views was interesting. Virgina Ferguson performed this book very well. One could feel her emotions. I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review. I would definitely listen to more books by this author and narrator.

Engaging, but a bit confusing

I enjoyed listening to this story, but should probably have chosen to read it instead. There are too many switches in points of view for a smooth audiobook listen. However, it was a good one and worth the effort.

a very slow pace

I don't know if everyone would enjoy this story I will admit I stopped the book and went to another one and only then listened to the rest of the story because the story is very very slow it's not a bad thing because it is part of the old scenario and maybe it's a bit unusual but it is very very good in some manner it is enjoyable after all low pace is a part of art

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Too Slow

Painting of Sorrow is a slow moving story with flat characters. I couldn't force myself to finish it.