Stolen Beauty: A Novel
Written by Laurie Lico Albanese and Gibson Frazier
Narrated by Gabra Zackman and Madeleine Maby
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
“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 1903 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 troubled by a disturbing increase in anti-Semitism as political hatred simmers in the shadows of Adele’s coffeehouse 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 stately home, Maria must summon the courage and resilience that is her aunt’s legacy if she is to survive and keep her loved ones—and their history—alive.
Will Maria and her family escape the grip of Nazi rule? And what will become of the paintings for which her aunt sacrificed nearly everything?
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 juxtaposes passion and discovery against hatred and despair, and shines a light on our ability to love, to destroy, and above all, to endure.
Laurie Lico Albanese
Laurie Lico Albanese has published fiction, poetry, journalism, travel writing, creative nonfiction, and memoir. Her books include Blue Suburbia: Almost a Memoir, Lynelle by the Sea, and The Miracles of Prato, co-written with art historian Laura Morowitz. Laurie is married to a publishing executive and is the mother of two children. To learn more visit her at LaurieLicoAlbanese.com.
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Reviews for Stolen Beauty
27 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautifully told tale of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Gustav Klimt, and Bloch-Bauer’s niece, Maria Altmann, who successfully retrieved her aunt’s famous portrait from the Austrian government after its theft by Nazis during WWII.
“Stolen Beauty” is the fictionalized (but mostly truthful) telling of the story first documented in Anne Marie O’Connor’s “The Lady in Gold”. That non-fiction book was the basis of the movie “The Woman in Gold”.
I was particularly enthralled by the documentation of Adele Bloch-Bauer’s life, which was tragically cut short at the age of 43. She was a truly fascinating woman who was ahead of her time. I was equally intrigued by Maria Altmann’s life, and her harrowing escape from Vienna following the Anschluss.
“Stolen Beauty” is definitely worth the read! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed the story but sometimes had trouble discerning the voices of the early 1900’s from the WW 2 years. I found the characters fascinating and seemingly well researched but at the end when she talked about her uncle putting his cello under his chin, I thought that her research didn’t go quite far enough!