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Dramatic,
Interesting,
Inspiring

3 reviews

Stolen Beauty: A Novel
by Laurie Lico Albanese

Published: 2017-02-07
Hardcover : 320 pages
1 member reading this now
8 clubs reading this now
2 members have read this book
Recommended to book clubs by 3 of 3 members
“A powerful and important tale of love and war, art and family…I was transported.” —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author

“Albanese artfully weaves Adele’s story with Maria’s harrowing life under the Nazis, but it’s hard to read Stolen Beauty without seeing ...
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Introduction

“A powerful and important tale of love and war, art and family…I was transported.” —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author

“Albanese artfully weaves Adele’s story with Maria’s harrowing life under the Nazis, but it’s hard to read Stolen Beauty without seeing ugly echoes in today’s headlines. Seven decades after World War II, have we learned nothing?” —USA TODAY

From the dawn of the twentieth century to the devastation of World War II, this exhilarating novel of love, war, art, and family gives voice to two extraordinary women and brings to life the true story behind the creation and near destruction of Gustav Klimt’s most remarkable paintings.

In the dazzling glitter of 1900 Vienna, Adele Bloch-Bauer—young, beautiful, brilliant, and Jewish—meets painter Gustav Klimt. Wealthy in everything but freedom, Adele embraces Klimt’s renegade genius as the two awaken to the erotic possibilities on the canvas and beyond. Though they enjoy a life where sex and art are just beginning to break through the façade of conventional society, the city is also exhibiting a disturbing increase in anti-Semitism, as political hatred foments in the shadows of Adele’s coffee house afternoons and cultural salons.

Nearly forty years later, Adele’s niece Maria Altmann is a newlywed when the Nazis invade Austria—and overnight, her beloved Vienna becomes a war zone. When her husband is arrested and her family is forced out of their home, Maria must summon the courage and resilience that is her aunt’s legacy if she is to survive and keep her family—and their history—alive.

Will Maria and her family escape the grip of Nazis’ grip? And what will become of the paintings that her aunt nearly sacrificed everything for?

Impeccably researched and a “must-read for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Paula McLain’s Circling the Sun” (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Stolen Beauty intertwines the tales of two remarkable women across more than a hundred years. It juxtaposes passion and discovery against hatred and despair, and shines a light on our ability to love, to destroy, and above all, to endure.

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Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
by Joan O. (see profile) 09/10/21

Albanese detailed prose transports you between the 1900 Vienna art world where everything is beautiful, dazzling and forty years later when Maria (Adele's niece) and her family are forced fr... (read more)

 
by Mimi A. (see profile) 03/09/18

 
by Karla D. (see profile) 05/24/17

 
  "Inspiration for art and life"by Leslie R. (see profile) 05/18/17

The story of these 2 strong women born in Austria a generation apart was not only fascinating, but inspirational. The struggles that they each faced as they strove to make a difference in the world and... (read more)

 
by Amy P. (see profile) 03/07/17

 
  "Stolen Beauty"by Elizabeth P. (see profile) 02/07/17


Love, war, and art.

STOLEN BEAUTY moves from 1900 to 1938 as we follow the lives of Adele and Maria.

In 1900, Adele's story was about her life and how she became fascinated with th




... (read more)

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