Back to my Scottish reading. I had seen this book in various book stores and then I went to the National Gallery and saw the painting. So I decided I had to read it.
Here’s the blurb …
When you look at a painting, what do you really see?
When eighteenth-century poet Alison Cockburn accepts a light-hearted challenge from her good friend Katherine Hume to live as a man, in order to infiltrate the infamous Edinburgh Skating Club, little do they both realise how her new identity will shape their futures. Together they navigate their way through the sights, sounds and faces of Enlightenment Edinburgh, from Old Town to New Town and from joyous friendship to a deep affection.
In twenty-first-century Edinburgh, art historian Claire Sharp receives a mysterious request: to settle once and for all the true provenance of the iconic painting The Skating Minister. But when she and friend Jen Brodie dig deeper, they discover the incredible truth behind the painting and two extraordinary women Enlightenment Edinburgh forgot.
This was a great story – I would love it to be true. I do like a novel about art – The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Goldfinch, One Illumined Thread, etc. Like many of these novels we have two time periods; contemporary and the time when the painting was painted. I think it brings Edinburgh in the 18th century vividly to life. The characters are well-written and the plot hums along nicely. It was a charming, warm and interesting novel. And I particularly liked the ending of the narrative from the past.
A review.