What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Occasionally told from the point of view from the painting. Witty and suspenseful. A woman discovered a painting in a thrift store, later other people figure out its valuable. Very much like an old-fashioned screwball comedy.

The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild?

Annie McDee, thirty-one, lives in a shabby London flat, works as a chef, and is struggling to get by. Reeling from a sudden breakup, she’s taken on an unsuitable new lover and finds herself rummaging through a secondhand shop to buy him a birthday gift. A dusty, anonymous old painting catches her eye. After spending her meager savings on the artwork, Annie prepares an exquisite birthday dinner for two—only to be stood up.

The painting becomes hers, and Annie begins to suspect that it may be more valuable than she’d thought. Soon she finds herself pursued by parties who would do anything to possess her picture: an exiled Russian oligarch, an avaricious sheikha, an unscrupulous art dealer. In her search for the painting’s identity, Annie will unwittingly discover some of the darkest secrets of European history—and the possibility of falling in love again.

From a reader: There are chapters of the book told from the point of view of the painting; that is, the painting itself narrating the story, telling its own history and voicing its opinion on Annie and her life.

Jenndian, around what year did you read this book?

Can you tell us more about the main characters - woman's job/skills, romantic interest?, etc.? Is the painting a portrait of a woman (from what time period)?

Is there time travel or romance?

Location - country, region, big city/small town?

Tips for posting a book request: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Jenndian, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

Girl In Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland?

"A professor invites a colleague from the art department to his home to view a painting he has kept secret for decades in Susan Vreeland's powerful historical novel, Girl in Hyacinth Blue. The professor swears it's a Vermeer -- but why exactly has he kept it hidden so long? The reasons unfold in a gripping sequence of stories that trace ownership of the work back to Amsterdam during World War II and still further to the moment of the painting's inception."

The Forgotten Painting

Could this be it?

Lobstergirl wrote: "Jenndian, are you still looking for this or did you find it?"

Abandoned.