This may be my favourite read of the year so far! High praise I know, but the topic really captured me. The story centres around a mysterious explorer-painter, Timothy Ponden-Hall, who has not been seen in over 50 years but leaves paintings - considered to be exceptional masterpieces - on the doorsteps of The National Gallery or the Royal Academy of Arts. There are rumours that Ponden-Hall discovered the elixir of life on a sea voyage and now uses it to capture the souls of his sitters, in some kind of deal with the devil, which made him a household name. For 50 years all has been silent, until a new painting is found on the doorstep of the gallery once more, shocking everyone back into a craze of speculation. Art Historian Solomon Oak is called in to authenticate it while the press swirl and clamour, intent on finding the mystery painter once and for all. It’s well written, and to me the mystery of the painter was just an exceptionally intriguing one, and didn’t disappoint as we got deeper into the mystery or the reveal. Watch out for this one early next year!

My thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher, Bloomsbury, for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a beautiful story. I was absolutely hooked from the second page and devoured this tale in a few sittings.

It has everything we might expect from a Victorian-era set tale, with their slightly strange obsession with phrenology, celebrity, mutton-chops, and bizarre leaps of faith about life, death and the afterlife.

Our main characters are Oaks, a professor in hiding following his oldest daughter's tragic death, his surviving daughter, Alice, and also Grace, a portrait sitter at the National Gallery. Oaks is somewhat pompous to begin with, very Victorian in his attitude, whereas Alice and Grace are certainly not. They're a slightly unconventional trio, and this is as much a story of their development as individuals as it is about uncovering Ponden-Hall's identity. And what a tangled web this proves to be. It is beautifully evocative and the ending, I feel, really does stand up to the rest of the tale.

I just really loved it, and I had to stop myself from turning to the back pages to discover the resolution from about 50% through the book. I'm glad I didn't give in and allowed the story to unfold as it was intended.

I don't read a huge number of more 'literary' fiction historical stories (I love a Golden Age cosy crime), but it had a similar 'feel' to Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver. Enjoy.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my review copy. I will share my review on the blog when the book is released.