{"product_id":"venus-vanishing-7233","title":"Venus, Vanishing","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePortrait of a Lady on Fire\u003c\/i\u003e meets \u003ci\u003eThe Safekeep \u003c\/i\u003ein this \"gripping, gorgeously written debut\" (Joanna Quinn, \u003ci\u003eThe Whalebone Theatre)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A tour de force that will captivate and haunt readers, wrestling with questions of the role of art in times of oppression and the relationship of an artist to their finished work, with a pulsing thread of desire thrumming throughout. A taut, mesmerizing story.\"\u003c\/b\u003e --\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn raucous 1928 Berlin, Hannah Sherman has deviated from the traditional arc of a woman's life. An artist and a runaway, she revels in the city's underground art scene and her newfound freedom. Working as a tailor while studying art in every spare moment, Hannah comes to know women and their bodies, first with measuring tape and silk, and later through sensuous layers of paint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHannah feels like she can finally call herself an artist when an intoxicating, wealthy female collector commissions an elaborate series of nude portraits. But after Hannah finishes the acclaimed Venus paintings, she discovers that her work has been tampered with and exhibited under a man's name. When lines between artist and muse are crossed in a heady but perilous affair, Hannah transforms her work into an act of revenge, finding herself caught up in a devastating game of betrayal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLaced with queer desire and life-threatening secrets, \u003ci\u003eVenus, Vanishing\u003c\/i\u003e pulses with the hedonism and danger of 1930s Berlin as history comes to Hannah's door, offering a heart-pounding story of Jewish survival, creativity, and resistance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRebecca Birrell\u003c\/b\u003e is an art historian and a Bye-Fellow in the History of Art at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. She was formerly the curator of nineteenth and twentieth century paintings and drawings at the Fitzwilliam Museum and has occupied curatorial positions at the Jewish Museum London, the Department of Prints and Drawing at the British Museum, and at the Charleston Trust. She studied English literature at University College London, followed by a master's in women's studies at the University of Oxford and a PhD from the Edinburgh College of Art. \u003ci\u003eVenus, Vanishing\u003c\/i\u003e is her debut novel.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rebecca Birrell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67896905892125,"sku":"9781250457233","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0821\/9095\/8877\/files\/9781250457233.jpg?v=1793219130","url":"https:\/\/www.anovelideaphilly.com\/products\/venus-vanishing-7233","provider":"A Novel Idea on Passyunk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}