The Collector's Apprentice

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Shapiro, Barbara, Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shapiro, Barbara A., Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shapiro, B. A.
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Shapiro, Barbara	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shapiro, Barbara A.	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Historical / Shapiro, B. A.	4-week checkout	On Shelf

"It's the summer of 1922, and nineteen-year-old Paulien Mertens finds herself in Paris--broke, disowned, and completely alone. Everyone in Belgium, including her own family, believes she stole millions in a sophisticated con game perpetrated by her then-fiance, George Everard. To protect herself from the law and the wrath of those who lost everything, she creates a new identity, a Frenchwoman named Vivienne Gregsby, and sets out to recover her father's art collection, prove her innocence--and exact revenge on George. When the eccentric and wealthy American art collector Edwin Bradley offers Vivienne the perfect job, she is soon caught up in the Parisian world of post-Impressionists and expatriates--including Gertrude Stein and Henri Matisse, with whom Vivienne becomes romantically entwined. As she travels between Paris and Philadelphia, where Bradley is building an art museum, her life becomes even more complicated: George returns with unclear motives . . . and then Vivienne is arrested for Bradley's murder"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Interesting Book! Loosely inspired by Albert Barnes story! submitted by jgetty on May 19, 2021, 4:31pm After finishing this book, I thought in the end it was a good book! My criticism is that it moved slow, and was a bit disjointed going back and forth years and characters. I almost put it back on the shelf, but I've found that sometimes a slow book, turns out great! So I carried on reading this book. Some small plots went on for pages, however in contrast, one of the big plots was over in 1 paragraph! I really liked learning and thinking about the life in 1922, and the art world, artists and collectors in 1922. When I read the Author's Notes at the end, I was totally excited and surprised to find this book was loosely inspired on the story and history of the art collector Albert Barnes and his assistant, Violette de Mazia!! There is a DVD at AADL called Art of the Steal that is about the Albert Barnes story, and this movie is fantastic!! So, in the end, I enjoyed this book, and thinking again about the very interesting tale of Albert Barnes. Be sure to check-out that DVD Art of the Steal - make sure it's the one about Albert Barnes, there's multiple same named movies, different subjects.

Enjoyable submitted by emroon on July 15, 2022, 3:53pm I have like Shapiro’s other books better than this one, but it was still enjoyable and exciting.