Another wonderful duel timeline tale from Erin Bartels.

This multi-layered read, which follows Viviana Torrens and her alter egos in the 1880s and Esther Markstrom in the present day, is a fascinating tale of intrigue and personal discovery, with broken characters navigating life's difficulties in their respective centuries. While I related more with the contemporary Esther and her challenges as a 40-something woman, I was moved by Viviana's traumas and harrowing experiences. I really felt for her when Vella took his time returning, and the reasons why,

Being a romance lover, I kinda wished there was more to the wisps of romance hinted throughout this story, but being one to appreciate women's fiction, I understood why the story when the way it did. I'm not much into painting but even I enjoyed the descriptions and art lore in this story.

NB I received an ARC of this novel.

Sounded so interesting, but the first chapters are so heavy. In the 1879 timeline, Viviana is a Catalan refugee working in a depressing situation. In the present day, Esther’s business is failing and her mother isn’t quite all right. I tried to keep going, but finally skipped ahead. The ending didn’t entice me to go back to the missed portion.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed reading about the young woman back in 1879, an orphan turned fugitive, and we journey from Spain, to France, to Gibraltar, and then across the Atlantic. Then back to present time with a woman, Esther Markstrom, who runs the families museum, along with being responsible for her mom with a mental disorder.

We seamless travel through the decades as we look for answers and the paintings of Francisco Vella, and visit with a lot of famous artist along the way.

It does take awhile, but the answers are forth coming, and there are surprises, sure did abound, even with Esther's mom!

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Revell, and was not required to give a positive review.

Esther Markham has inherited the house and collection of Francesco Vella. These have traditionally been run by the family as a museum. Esther is crushed by the responsibility of keeping this museum open as well as caring for her depressive mother who like her is an artist.
In a classic duel time shift we are also told the 19th century story of Viviana Torrens, a Catalan refugee in France. Viviana, we are told dressed as a boy and ran away to war with her brother. After a tragedy and painful experience - she finds escape through an introduction to art whilst working as a skivvy in an artists house and meeting with Francesco Vella, a Gibraltarian colourist.
I appreciated the themes of art, identity and belonging the author raised and also her historical research and sense of place particularly the scenes in Gibraltar. Many will enjoy this story, although the twist is signalled very early which may have been a mistake. I personal struggled to connect to the leading characters and care about their journey of discovery about themselves and their desires. Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Every year, I wait for Erin Bartel's next novel because they always introduce me to amazing characters that can only exist in an Erin Bartel novel. I was not disappointed with The Lady with the Dark Hair.

Esther Markstrom and her mother, Lorena have always been proud of their ancestor painter, Francisco Vella. They run an art gallery dedicated to raising awareness of his scandalously unappreciated work. When Esther reconnects with her former art history professor, Ian Perez, her once solid family history starts to crumble.

I think it’s impossible to have a favourite novel by Erin Bartel, each one is distinctive in the path that it takes, but the history and research that was obviously put in this book make my wait worth it. I loved the theme of identity which was to me the overarching theme that affected both Vivianna and Esther. We are all looking for belonging but first, we need to know who we are, and I really connected with the struggle that both women go through to get to that pinnacle of peace of who they are as the novel ends. Esther is not the same person that she is in the beginning but a fuller sense of what she is capable of, and it emerges to occupy that space in her life and it’s beautiful. Highly Recommended!

My gratitude to Netgalley and Revell. All opinions expressed are mine and honest.

This is a book about art and artists. It's a dual time line story with plenty of art in both times - paintings, pigments and artists. It's apparent that the author did significant research into the details of the art world in the late 1800s and art history in general. It was also interesting to meet and get to know some of the female artists of the time period.

Late 1800s - Viviana Torrens has found a job as a maid in the house of an aging artist in the south of France. She is a on the run from the civil war in Spain where she was accused of killing someone. The aging artist likes the way she looks and uses her as a model for one of his paintings along with Vella, a merchant who sells pigments to artists all of over Europe. Vella asks her to leave with him and travel throughout Europe but she refuses and stays in the home of the artist where he teaches her about painting. When her past catches up with her, she leaves with the merchant posing as his sister and travels throughout Europe and getting to know many of the famous artists of the day. As her artistic talent grows, she is still on the run from the authorities and she signs her paintings with a "V" which everyone assumes is for Vella and not for Viviana.

Present Day - Esther and her artist mother are proud that they are descendants of the unappreciated artist Vella and even have a small museum featuring his paintings. When Esther's art history professor comes to view the museum, he questions the identity of the artist, especially the painting of The Lady with the Dark Hair. Esther and Adam go on a fact finding trip to Europe to try to find out the history of the painting and who the artist really was. Was it really Vella or could it have been Viviana who was the artist?

This was an interesting book and I thoroughly enjoyed both time lines. I had great respect for Viviana who was a wonderful artist in a time that female artists were not appreciated. I also liked Esther and her rabid determination to find out more about the real artist of The Lady with the Dark Hair.

As I was reading the book, I spent a lot of time googling the artists that were mentioned - especially the female artists like Mary Cassett and Berthe Morisot so not only was the book enjoyable but I learned more about art history during this time period.

I'm a real fan of Erin Bartels and have read and enjoyed all of her books. Add her new book to your list of books that you don't want to miss.

Bartels ekes her story out to us slowly although we can guess where it is going to end up, yet not exactly how far it will actually go. This is satisfying and she gives the reader a solid shift between the ancient story of Viviana Torrens and contemporary Ester. The description of painting and the times rings true, and the main characters are sufficiently drawn to differentiate themselves, but the peripheral characters are a bit wanted. The shift of Consuela from shrewdly judging to complicit is a bit too far fetched.
Nonetheless, the tale is interesting and a good look at the constraints of women in an earlier century.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Revell Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The lady with the dark hair is a well written dual timeline novel. I throughly enjoyed the plot. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and Netgalley. This is my unbiased review.

This book was different from my usual reading. I have never known much about painting and painters it was interesting insight into this world. It was also the story of two women, both in a way trapped I their world and their struggle to get free in the present and one in the past. I f8nd it interesting and a good story with some meaning. I was given this book for the purpose of reviewing.

3.5 stars
This was my first time reading Erin Bartels and wow is she excellent for historical fiction. There was a massive amount of research that went into this book: whether related to the area of Gilbraltar or to the background of artist Renaud, to the actual painting process, to paint pigments, to actual artists of that era. So much research! Very very well done! This is a dual time book as you work through the present at the same time as an event in the past. There is also mental health awareness/and suicide topics in this as well.

As an art appreciation teacher at my local co-op, I enjoyed "meeting" the various artists that were mentioned in this book. Mary Cassatt is a favorite of mine.

I loved that you as a reader figured out the mystery before the character did. That is fun sometimes. I would have liked to see an epilogue of sorts with the actual discovery of where the "Lady with Dark Hair" truly ended up and any ancestors. :)

So my usual followers know, this one is not a Christian fiction but it wasn't full of the usual things that can be found in generic historical fiction.

I didn't love it and I may not recommend it to my friends--but I will give it 4 stars for the sake of the Goodreads.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my review. I didn't have to write a positive review and all opinions are my own.

I found the story engaging and entertaining and well researched and I feel she is a good author as I’ve read most of her other books which are more contemporary in nature but good nonetheless.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read and review this book

This review was made possible via an ARC through NetGalley.

The Lady with Dark Hair is a dual timeline historical novel between Esther, a midwestern woman who is the descendant of an obscure European painter and pigment merchant, Vella, and Viviana , a young woman who travels with that painter.

Viviana previously served in the Carlist militia with her brother and is running from the authorities in France and later around Europe. She is pulled in by the painter, Renaud, to pose for one of his paintings with Vella. Vella and Viviana are taken with each other and Vella agrees to send Vivienne letters while he is away on his travels and business.

While Vella is gone, Renaud takes Viviana on as an apprentice of sorts and she develops her own artistic skills. Vella comes back a year later to reveal that he has gotten married and asks Viviana to come with him to be his companion. A romance doesn’t bloom between the two because Viviana’s affections for him have waned during their separation, but they do care about each other, sometimes to their detriment

Esther lives with her mother in a small college town and runs an art gallery that features her ancestor’s art as well as local art and Esther’s own on occasion. The most beautiful painting in Esther’s home, La Dama, is believed to be painted by Vella until Esther’s college professor asks if it could have been painted by someone else, leading Esther on a journey to learn more about Vella’s legacy and her own ancestry.

Viviana’s POV was my favorite of the two and I really liked how the author described the act of painting as well as the description of La Dama. I would love to see it realized because it sounds stunning.

I would recommend this to fans of art history.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I usually have to be convinced to read books set in two different timelines. But this time I have the opportunity to convince others that this is definitely a worthwhile read! I really enjoyed how this story unfolds across the two timelines. I couldn't put the book down until I found out what each timeline was leading to. Fortunately, this book is easily read in one sitting if that's your wish (it definitely was mine)!

I think characters from both periods were very well done. I found myself connecting to both Viviana and Esther in different but meaningful ways. This is really a great example of a character driven book! You'll love these characters and become so invested in their story and how they'll take you along with them as the grow and learn.

I love historical fiction and books (set in any time period) about art. The Lady with the Dark Hair by Erin Bartels does incredibly in both of these areas! I also loved the settings, especially the parts set in Gibraltar. Erin Bartels did a beautiful job showing places through Viviana's and Esther's experiences. Definitely made me feel like I was with them wherever they were!

This was my first book by Erin Bartels and I'm grateful to have discovered her! I definitely will be checking out more of her work based on how well-crafted I thought this story was!

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I must admit it was the cover that intrigued me
The author is new to me
After reading the blurb and having historical fiction as my favourite genre I was pleasantly surprised

I found this engrossing. Loved the writing style and will definitely be watching out for more from this author

I'm glad I've found them