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THE LOST MADONNA
by Kelly Jones
Berkley, February 2007
336 pages
$7.99
ISBN: 0425214192


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

In November 1966, Suzanne Cunningham, a 19-year-old American student, was passing through Florence. She and her best friend were planning to stay only a couple of nights. But their stay was prolonged by the devastating flood which swept the city and destroyed or badly damaged many works of art and priceless books. Like many of the students from all countries at the time, they stayed to help. Even though they had no special skills, they could fetch and carry, hand tools to restorers and do other grunt work.

Stefano was one of the restorers, and he and Suzanne had an affair while working together on rescuing paintings, specifically one entitled Madonna and Child. Eventually Suzanne left Florence with a broken heart. However she found her calling and returned to the US. She changed her major and ultimately became Professor Cunningham, teaching art history in Idaho.

When an old friend who is the dean of a year abroad program for an American university in Florence calls Suzanne with an opportunity to return to Italy, she jumps at the chance. So, over 30 years after she left, Suzanne is returning to Florence to teach a course on art history.

As part of her preparation for her new classes she comes across a book containing an article on the Madonna and Child which states it was lost in the flood. This is news to Suzi; she clearly remembers the restoration because her first love, Stefano was the restorer.

The author spent her junior year of college in Florence two years after the flood and her love of the city is evident in this book. Suzanne’s story goes back and forth between the past and present time effortlessly. She and the other main characters are fascinating and interesting; they come alive on the pages, along with the wonders of Florence and the Italian countryside.

THE LOST MADONNA is more romance than mystery, but there are still mysterious elements in the story. Suzanne feels that she must find out what really happened to the painting, and she enlists the aid of the son of the author of the art book which claimed the portrait was lost. The sense of adventure and the mystery surrounding the painting are a true gift to the reader. Suzanne and her story will warm the reader's heart.

Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, April 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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