I bought this from Amazon as part of a 3 for 2 deal. This looks right up my street - literary fictional tale about Rembrandt, set in two different time zones. It is Tracy Chevalier's novels all rolled into one volume.

I will be back...

Reserved for MrsPotage.

This is Rembrandt's self portrait of 1669.

I was a little bit disappointed with this book. The plot is great - it is told in parallels. The premise is that Rembrandt travels to Hull (accidentally) and in order to get back to Holland, paints a portrait of the sea captain who had sailed him there and his wife. The portrait, of course, is undiscovered because nobody knows that Rembrandt ever went to Hull. One half of the novel is told in Rembrandt's own voice and, of course, he falls in lust with the wife. The second story is that of Amy Dale, a descendant of the sea captain's wife, who happens to discover that the painting exists and embarks on a secret quest with her mysterious lover Don to find it.

I really liked the sections of the book dealing with Rembrandt's own story. I hated Amy Dale! I found her character, and her story, totally unbelievable. I think the fault is the novelist's- the problem lies in the characterisation which makes me think has to be a first novel. I may be over-critical but because she annoyed me so much, I found those sections of the novel hard-going. I made it 3/4s of the way through then gave up and read the last 3 pages to find out what happened! Anyway, I am very gratified that Bookcrossing's number one book reviewer, Harriet, felt exactly the same way as me about this novel.

However, I am giving this 7 stars because, as I said, I thought the plot was terrific and I did like the parts of the book where Rembrandt himself was the narrator.

This is now on its way to MrsPotage... I hope you enjoy it!

Caught via postal release... many thanks LeighBCD! First few pages promising although written in C20th vernacular. Which might not be a bad thing. Let's see...

RELEASE NOTES:

In the cafe.

I did enjoy the book mostly ... thought there were parts where the imagination was a little over-stretched. Having worked with builders/conservators I enjoyed the repartee and found that part realistic. My gripe would also be with the Amy Dale character but not to the extend of Leigh!