Secrets of the Painter: A Novel
by Matthew Hovious
Category: Fiction

Orphaned, unknown, and destitute, Luís Mariano Malasaña arrives in Madrid in 1850 with nothing more than the dream of becoming his generation's Goya -- and the raw talent to actually make it happen. But as his portraits become popular and he paints his way into the class he portrays, he learns that his dream will have a terrible price: everyone he paints, dies. Convinced that he was born for no other profession, Malasaña will face harrowing questions both on and off the canvas, as his rise to fame brings him an ever more turbulent private life. His journey begins as a mere quest for personal success in the tumultuous Madrid of Queen Isabel II, but becomes an odyssey which forces him to confront his own feelings about guilt and fatalism, death and life, and the true power of paint.