Portrait of an Unknown Lady

<p><b>In this dazzling story of art and illusion secrets and schemes who is to be trusted - and what is real?</b><br><br><b>From the internationally acclaimed author of <i>Optic Nerve </i></b><br><br><b>*A <i>TLS </i>Book of the Year*</b><br><br><b>'A writer who feels immediately important' <i>Observer</i></b><br><br>At a hotel in Buenos Aires a woman checks in under a pseudonym. She wears a black fur shawl and has no luggage. She is alone.<br><br>Over the coming days and nights she tells a story which begins with a secret shared in a local bath house revealing art forgery and fraud on a dazzling scale. At its heart is an enigmatic genius who for years forged portraits of the city's elite before disappearing without trace. It is a story of influence and intrigue in which nothing is as it seems. We're not to expect 'names numbers or dates' she cautions but a more subtle kind of reckoning...<br><br>Told in a mordant irresistible voice and full of sharp surprises <i>Portrait of an Unknown Lady</i> is a captivating enquiry into what we mean by 'authenticity' in life as in art. At once poised and capricious elegant and bold it is a thrilling exploration of the relationships between what is lived what is told what is remembered and what is real.<br><br><b>Translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead</b></p>