This is a story of two women, centuries apart, a mysterious map, and a family secret spanning hundreds of years. All the ingredients for a good read, particularly for those who have an interest in art history.
Our story begins in Antwerp in the 1620s where Antonia’s father works as an engraver for the great Baroque Master, Peter Paul Rubens, and where Antonia is raised to know her mind, and to attract a husband by being an educated and erudite woman. As time progresses, her father falls out with Rubens, and on his deathbed, he entrusts her with a secret that will alter the course of their family’s future.
In the present day, art historian and Rubens expert, Charlotte, has moved to Antwerp for research and to confront her absent father. But life rarely goes to plan, and she becomes aware of a reference hidden inside an ancient map folio which leads her on a fraught hunt for lost treasures. In academia, where ambition and rivalry for tenure run deep, nothing is what it seems.
This is a clever story and historical mystery, but in Charlotte’s time the narrative is littered with red herrings that add little to the story. I felt much of Antonia’s story could have benefitted from a good edit as there is considerable discussion of domesticity. Fine in its place, but not in this book. The story of Ruben’s impact on societal and art history, and the claustrophobic atmosphere of academia is very well told, and the reader can genuinely feel the angst that Charlotte feels in her new role.
The Engraver’s Secret is likely to have us ferreting in the attic, seeking the potential of a long-lost mystery.
Reviewed by Lesley West
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Medved is an Australian author, who has lived in The Hague since 2008. She spent most of her early childhood in her hometown of Melbourne, along with interludes in Bandung, Indonesia and Washington DC, where her family lived for her father’s work.
Exposure to diverse cultures at a young age, as well as travelling extensively before the age of 10, left a lasting impression on the budding storyteller.
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