"A book everyone can enjoy . . . wonderful in the way it weaves [Klimt's] life in with the history of the times, the history of the art world, and the impending rise of Hitler . . . fantastic in its implication of so very many groups and individuals in the holocaust itself and the stealing of art in particular."
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The Daily KOS "Illuminating and rewarding . . . compelling."
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The Jewish Journal "A 100-year saga involving sex, genocide, betrayal, a landmark legal battle and millions of dollars . . . harrowing . . . [a] scathing indictment . . . O'Connor gives each of her subjects a dignified historical airing."
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Maclean's "The lives lost and the stories that flow from this one painting will haunt, sadden, anger, and stick with you indefinitely."
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City Book Review "An engrossing history . . . entering into the relationship of artist and model. . . . [A] breathless telling."
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The Vienna Review of Books "Skillfully filters Austria's troubled twentieth century through the life of Klimt's most beloved muse . . . The book's strength lies in the depth of its details . . . offering readers a nuanced view of a painting whose story transcends its own time."
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Bookforum
"[A] fascinating story of lust, beauty, greed, loss, prejudice, atrocity, and justice is told here with a wealth of glittering detail."
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The Dispatch "O'Connor . . . skillfully navigates the bizarre orbit of Klimt's masterpiece . . . with depth of insight and righteous indignation. Whether or not you've marveled at Klimt's shimmering portrait before, you won't look at it the same way again."
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Washingtonian "Fascinating, ambitious, exhaustively researched . . . A mesmerizing tale of art and the Holocaust."
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The Washington Post "Writing with a novelist's dynamism, O'Connor resurrects fascinating individuals and tells a many-faceted, intensely affecting, and profoundly revelatory tale of the inciting power of art and the unending need for justice."
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Booklist (starred review)
"Part history and part mystery,
The Lady in Gold is a striking tale."
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BookPage
"The dazzling, nearly surreal
'Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I' is about a lot more than just art. O'Connor captures the whole story."
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Library Journal "Every stolen painting has a story. The tale behind this one is epic."
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Christian Science Monitor "A fascinating book."
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Dallas Morning News "[An] evocation of a beautiful, vanished world."
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Women's Wear Daily "Fascinating tale of beauty, terror, loss and remembrance reveals a deeper truth beneath the golden surface."
--Jonathan Lopez,
Associated Press "O'Connor has told an important story."
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The Wall Street Journal "Lusciously detailed."
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Kirkus "Encapsulates a fascinating, complicated cultural history of fin-de-siècle Vienna, its Jewish intelligentsia, and their near complete destruction by the Nazis....vividly evokes... how she became entwined with the charismatic, sexually charged, and irreverent Klimt...poignant and convincing..."
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Publisher's Weekly "Ignites many a startling flashpoint in the moral history of our time--a taut, rich, tangy and instructive read."
--Frederic Morton
"Gripping in details and drama."
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The Los Angeles Times "Intricately webbed and shocking tale of this iconic work."
--Donna Seaman