Mayor Joseph
Curtatone and Maria Carpenter, Director of the Somerville Public Libraries,
announced today that the City of Somerville will launch its fourth “One City,
One Book” campaign in September 2013. Somerville Reads is a project that
promotes literacy and community engagement by encouraging people all over the City
to read and discuss the same book. The book selected for the 2013 project is
The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro, a page-turner of a novel that deals with the
largest unsolved art heist in history. The robbery took place on March 18,
1990, when thirteen works of art worth over $500 million were stolen from the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Claire Roth, a struggling young
artist with her own scandalous past, is about to discover that that there's
more to this crime than meets the eye.
Claire makes
her living reproducing famous works of art for a popular online retailer. Desperate to improve her situation, she lets
herself be lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery
owner. She agrees to forge a painting-one of the Degas masterpieces stolen from
the Gardner Museum-in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery.
But when the long-missing Degas painting-the one that had been hanging for one
hundred years at the Gardner-is delivered to Claire's studio, she begins to
suspect that it may itself be a forgery.
Claire's
search for the truth about the painting's origins leads her into a labyrinth of
deceit where secrets hidden since the late nineteenth century may be the only
evidence that can now save her life. B. A. Shapiro's razor-sharp writing and
rich plot twists make The Art Forger an absorbing literary thriller that treats
us to three centuries of forgers, art thieves, and obsessive collectors. It's a dazzling novel about seeing - and not
seeing - the secrets that lie beneath the canvas.
“The Art
Forger is a fascinating read that mixes local history with fine arts, thievery,
and science,” Carpenter said. “We are
absolutely delighted to feature this New York Times bestseller and present
author Barbara Shapiro as our special guest at the Central Library on
Wednesday, September 18th at 7:00 p.m. This event is free, refreshments will be
served, and all are invited to attend.”
You can register for the event online at http://bashapiro.eventbrite.com.
The Central
Library will also host a free screening of Stolen, a documentary by Rebecca
Dreyfus, on Wednesday, September 25th at 7:00 p.m. Stolen is a full exploration
of the Gardner robbery and the fascinating, disparate characters involved: from
the 19th century Grand Dame Isabella Gardner to the 17th century Dutch masters
to a 21st century terrorist organization with a penchant for stealing Vermeers.
Copies of The
Art Forger in a variety of formats are available for check out at all
Somerville Public Library locations
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