Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Botticelli's Bastard
    Unavailable
    Botticelli's Bastard
    Unavailable
    Botticelli's Bastard
    Ebook260 pages3 hours

    Botticelli's Bastard

    By Stephen Maitland-Lewis

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Art restorer Giovanni Fabrizzi is haunted by an unsigned renaissance portrait. Obsessed to learn the truth of its origin, he becomes increasingly convinced the painting could be the work of one of history's greatest artists, which if true, would catapult its value to the stratosphere. But in learning of the painting's past, he is faced with a dilemma. He believes the portrait was stolen during the greatest art heist in history -- the Nazi plunder of European artwork. If true and a surviving relative of the painting's rightful owner were still alive, Giovanni, in all good conscience, would have to give up the potential masterpiece. His obsession with the portrait puts a strain on his new marriage, and his son thinks his father has lost his mind for believing an unremarkable, unsigned painting could be worth anyone's attention. Regardless, Giovanni persists in his quest of discovery and exposes far more truth than he ever wanted to know.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGlyd-Evans Press
    Release dateFeb 17, 2014
    ISBN9780991508402
    Unavailable
    Botticelli's Bastard
    Author

    Stephen Maitland-Lewis

    Stephen Maitland-Lewis is an award-winning author, a British attorney, and a former international investment banker. He has held senior executive positions in London, Kuwait, Paris, Munich, and on Wall Street prior to moving to California in 1991. He has owned a luxury hotel and a world-renowned restaurant and was also Director of Marketing of a Los Angeles daily newspaper.Maitland-Lewis is a jazz aficionado and a Board Trustee of the Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York. In 2014, he received the Museum's prestigious Louie Award. A member of PEN, The Authors Guild, and The Dramatists Guild of America, Maitland-Lewis is also on the Executive Committee of the International Mystery Writers Festival. In addition, he is on the Advisory Board of the California Jazz Foundation and is a former Board member.He has published short stories in various magazines and Mr. Simpson and Other Short Stories is Maitland-Lewis' first collection of short stories. His novels have received numerous accolades and his most recent suspense thriller is Duped. His other novels include Hero on Three Continents; Emeralds Never Fade which won the 2012 Benjamin Franklin Award for Historical Fiction and the 2011 Written Arts Award for Best Fiction; Ambition which was a 2013 USA Best Book Awards finalist and won first place for General Fiction in the 2013 Rebecca's Reads Choice Awards; and Botticelli's Bastard, a 2014 USA Best Book Awards finalist in three categories and winner of the Bronze Award in Best Regional Fiction (Europe) at the 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Maitland-Lewis' short story, Mr. Simpson has recently been developed as a play and has been performed by noted theatre companies in Miami, New Orleans, and Beverly Hills. In January of 2016, Maitland-Lewis was sworn in as a Freeman of the City of London and admitted as a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of City Solicitors. In April of 2016, he became a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society (FRGS). He divides his time between Beverly Hills, CA, and New Orleans, LA.

    Read more from Stephen Maitland Lewis

    Related to Botticelli's Bastard

    Related ebooks

    Historical Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Way Things TURN OUT

      Jun 3, 2020

      The Way Things TURN OUT
      7 min read

    • Article

      Venice Peach

      Oct 2, 2023

      1. THE DRESSMAKER AND THE HIDDEN SOLDIER by Doug Gold (A&U) WWII thriller about Kiwi soldier and Greek dressmaker 2. SUMMER FAVOURITES by Vanya Insull (A&U) Recipes from @vj_cooks 3. TE REO KAPEKAPE: Māori Wit and Humour by Hona Black (Oratia) Having

      4 min read

    • Article

      It Happened to Me…

      Jun 16, 2022

      A genuine miracle occurred at the art opening of the Blinky 40th Anniversary Exhibition at California State University Northridge Gallery in Southern California on 2 February 2019. An artwork by Erika Ostrander of the “Shroud of Blinky” was found wee

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of Life

      Apr 9, 2020

      The Art Of Life
      6 min read

    • Article

      Heartbreaks & misadventures

      Aug 21, 2020

      Among other things, your book is a culinary adventure. Why is food such a central theme? You can’t write a book about Italians without food playing a major role. It is such a fundamental part of the Italian culture. Italians bond over eating – it’s

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of Life

      Oct 31, 2018

      The Art Of Life
      6 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Simpson Learns A Lesson

      Jul 29, 2021

      Mrs Simpson Learns A Lesson
      4 min read

    • Article

      I REMEMBER… Barry Humphries

      Mar 15, 2022

      I REMEMBER… Barry Humphries
      5 min read

    • Article

      French Twist

      Nov 13, 2022

      Is there a French word for uprooting a perfectly good life to move to the other side of the planet? If there isn’t, there should be. Just don’t ask Anna Bibby. The former owner of Auckland’s well-known Anna Bibby Gallery moved to France 13 years ago

      7 min read

    • Article

      Matters Of The Heart

      Nov 6, 2019

      Matters Of The Heart
      7 min read

    • Article

      Don’t Call Me Kitsch!

      Dec 17, 2021

      Don’t Call Me Kitsch!
      9 min read

    • Article

      Dead Dad Book

      Apr 7, 2020

      Dead Dad Book
      8 min read

    • Article

      Winter Sun

      Feb 6, 2020

      Winter Sun
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Love Story For The Ages

      Nov 4, 2020

      A Love Story For The Ages
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Fiction No. 252

      Mar 15, 2022

      The Art of Fiction No. 252
      31 min read

    • Article

      The July War

      Sep 8, 2020

      In summer, our neighborhood quiets in phases. The quieting begins in May. Schools give their older kids, the seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, a month off to prepare for the baccalaureate exams. Following a ritual as old as our parents, the students

      21 min read

    • Article

      Remembering Inge Feltrinelli

      Oct 5, 2018

      Remembering Inge Feltrinelli
      10 min read

    • Article

      Winter SUN

      Oct 4, 2022

      Winter SUN
      4 min read

    • Article

      Blighty HOTEL

      Jun 12, 2019

      Blighty HOTEL
      7 min read

    • Article

      Reading Corner

      Aug 6, 2023

      This is Sheila O’Flanagan’s first foray into historical fiction and it was inspired by stories her grandmother told her. The author brings her powerful storytelling skills to a particularly turbulent time in Irish history. It is a dramatic, sweeping

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Third Obituary of Anton Popov

      Mar 4, 2019

      Three days after Anton Antonovich Popov garroted himself with piano wire, Elsie Green motored up his looping driveway—voice recorder and notepad in her shoulder bag—to write Popov’s first, and her 200th, obituary. Popov, composer of an acclaimed debu

      17 min read

    • Article

      Blanc Steer

      Mar 6, 2022

      Blanc Steer
      4 min read

    • Article

      Writing Family History

      Dec 15, 2021

      Writing Family History
      5 min read

    • Article

      Elise Juska on Finally Learning the True Story of Her Namesake

      Jun 12, 2019

      The novelist on her grandfather's very unusual relationship arrangement—a 52-year engagement—and how it led, in a roundabout way, to her own name. The post Elise Juska on Finally Learning the True Story of Her Namesake appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    Reviews for Botticelli's Bastard

    3.5/5

    10 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This my first in this kind of book dealing with art and history. It a good book and interesting. It deals with Germany and take over of Europe in the 1940's. I liked the idea of the painting talking and telling detail about his owners. That what is been so neat about it. I love the fact that Giovanni started with a discovery of stolen art.

      Giovanni has some family problems that it so funny in a way that he find a discovery to lift his spirit. The author was good and i enjoyed the book. I rate this book at 4 1/2 stars. Those the painting stories about himself is so funny that you want to laugh. It makes you want to find out more of they mystery of the painting. If you want you can enter the giveaway try and win a copy.
    • 4/5
      To be honest I briefly read the summary of this book and thought it sounded interesting. Then when it arrived and I re-read the back cover I had my doubts and was like "What did I commit myself into reading" So you could say I really had my mind made up. Well I am here to tell you that you really can not judge a book by it's cover. I fell right into the groove reading this book. It was only a matter of a few short hours and I was done with this book. The ease that the author wrote this book was great. Also, I liked that Giovanni was a normal guy who was kind of down and out on his life at the current moment. The talking portrait was a fun twist. The way that the portrait spoke of others who did not know art was very upper class but the author again was smart in the way that he presented the conversations that I was not turned off by the portrait. Then the mystery surrounding the portrait was intriguing and I like Gio had to learn the truth. The author actually made me interested in art reading this book. So if you are looking for something different to read and new you should check this book out.
    • 2/5
      Not great. The central conceit of the novel is pretty silly, but even when taken on board, we are left with a lot of bolt-on research weighing down a slight story of shallow and not especially pleasant, even in several cases quite disgusting characters.
    • 4/5
      Okay now this book has a talking painting!!!! Pretty out there and hokey right?? Well actually I loved this book and I found it very well done. It contains a mystery of the origins of the painting and many historical facts are woven into the tales that the painting tells. The count in the picture gives us his story and the history of where the painting has been. When Giovanni learns the truth about the painting what will he do with it? Sell it, give it back, put it in a museum? You are probably thinking that this whole thing sounds ridiculous, but I have to tell you that this is a great book. It does have a little hocus-pocus magical realism, but the story is well told and is a very good one. It is a wonderful addition to WWII history regarding the loss of Jewish art collections to the Nazi party. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.