The swan thieves

624 pages

English language

Published March 18, 2010 by Sphere, [distributor] Littlehampton Book Services Ltd.

ISBN:
978-0-7515-4142-7
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OCLC Number:
851997463

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(8 reviews)
  • The highly anticipated new novel by the author of the international bestseller THE HISTORIAN.

8 editions

None

A psychiatrist, Andrew Marlow, has a patient, Robert Oliver, who attacked a painting in an art gallery with a knife. Oliver will not speak, and so to try to understand him Marlow visits and interviews people who had known Oliver, to try to understand his behaviour. As he uncovers more of Oliver's past, he finds it leads back into art history, and the history of the Impressionists in France.

In a way, the book follows a formula that has been used by other authors, such as [a:Robert Goddard|16246|Robert Goddard|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1238359023p2/16246.jpg] -- a mystery in the present whose answer is to be found in something that happened in the past.

I don't think it's qute up to the standard of the best of Goddard, but it's a lot better than his worst, and the pace is a bit more leisurely. It's the kind of book you can spin out, reading a chapter …

Review of 'The swan thieves' on 'Goodreads'

I read some pretty scathing reviews of this book, and while I didn't enjoy it as much as The Historian, I thought the story was compelling, though at times a little choppy. I also enjoyed how the author suggests things without tying all the threads up too neatly for the reader. Kostova understands that paintings never give up all their secrets to the same person.

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Subjects

  • Painters
  • Art appreciation
  • Psychiatrists