"The Lady with the Dark Hair" by Erin Bartels

About the Book

Esther Markstrom and her artist mother have always been proud of their ancestor, painter Francisco Vella. They even run a small museum and gallery dedicated to raising awareness of his scandalously underappreciated work. But when Esther reconnects with her former art history professor, she finds her once-solid family history on shaky ground as questions arise about Vella's greatest work--a portrait entitled The Lady with the Dark Hair.

In 1879, Catalan orphan-turned-fugitive Viviana Torrens has found sanctuary serving in the home of an aging artist in Southern France. It is in his studio that she meets Francisco Vella, a Gibraltarian merchant who sells artists' pigments. When her past catches up to her, she is compelled to pose as Vella's sister and join him on his travels or be deported back to Spain to stand trial. Along the way she will discover that the many parts she has been playing in order to hide her identity have far-reaching implications she never could have foreseen.

This dual-timeline story from award-winning author Erin Bartels takes readers from the sleepy Midwest to the sultry Mediterranean on a relentless search for truth, identity, and the freedom to follow one's dreams. 

My Thoughts

I enjoyed reading this book. Once I started, I didn't want to put it down. I found myself going back to reading when I was supposed to be doing something else. I found the book to be well written and easy to read. I usually read romances and this wasn't really one, but I still liked reading the book. I was intrigued by both of the storylines and wanted to find out what was going to happen. Being from Michigan, I enjoyed the references to places and things that I am familiar with. 

About the Author

Erin Bartels writes character-driven fiction for curious people. Her readers know to expect that each of her novels will tell a unique story about fallible characters so fully realized that it's hard to believe they are not real people. Whether urban, rural, or somewhere in between, her settings come alive with carefully crafted details that engage all the senses and transport the reader to a singular time and place. And her themes of reckoning with the past, improving the present, and looking with hope to the future leave her readers with a sense of peace and possibility.

Erin is the author of We Hope for Better Things, The Words between Us, All That We Carried, The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water, and Everything Is Just Beginning. A two-time Christy finalist and winner of two 2020 WFWA Star Awards and the 2020 Michigan Notable Book Award, Erin has been a publishing professional for more than twenty years. After eighteen years in Lansing, Michigan, Erin and her family are busy enjoying the simple blessings of a less urban life in a small town outside the capital city.

You can find her online at ErinBartels.com, on Facebook @ErinBartelsAuthor, and on Instagram @erinbartelswrites

"The Lady with the Dark Hair" is available in paperback:

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Revell (March 26, 2024)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0800741668
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0800741662
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.7 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.88 x 8.5 inches

and in Kindle edition:

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C9RL6GH3
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Revell (March 26, 2024)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 26, 2024
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 9511 KB

I got a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own and given voluntarily. No compensation was received for my review.