In particular, she explores the rights and responsibilities of Jewish women in the time of Sarah, revealing the ties that both united and bound them. A comic farce of a novel about one man's research into art history, from the author of the play Noises Off . Invited to dinner by the impossibly dull Tony Churt, Martin Clay, a philosopher, and his art historian wife, are asked to evaluate three of Tony's dusty paintings. While examining the minor works, Martin discovers one painting which he believes to be a lost world treasure. Here he begins his quest to prove the value of the painting, win over his embattled wife, and solve one of the great mysteries of European art.
Every year sees at least one book that more or less steals the show .
In 1999, it was Arthur Golden's number one bestseller, Memoirs of a Geisha. If Jane Austen were a 20th-century American man writing about traditional Japanese mores, this is the book she would write. Wonderful, involving, intelligent, fascinating, and almost Dickensian in the way the characters inhabit the landscape, and the landscape permeates the characters. It's a unique, beautifully written book. Golden has found the heart and matter of a truth that lies beyond detail.