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Ballantine
May 2007
On Sale: May 15, 2007
240 pages ISBN: 0345494660 EAN: 9780345494665 Hardcover
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Thriller Legal
Haarlem, Holland, seventeenth-century: The city’s chief
magistrate commissions a family portrait from Dutch master
painter Johannes Miereveld. But when the artist sees the
magistrate’s daughter, Amalia, an illicit love affair
begins. Miereveld creates a captivating masterpiece, The
Chrysalis–a stunning portrait of the Virgin Mary, full of
Catholic symbols, that outrages his Protestant patron and
signals the death of his career. New York, present day: Mara Coyne is one high-profile case
away from making partner at her powerful Manhattan law
firm, and now the client that is sure to seal the deal has
fallen into her lap. The prestigious Beazley’s auction
house is about to sell a lost masterwork, The Chrysalis, in
an auction that is destined to become legendary. Standing
in the way, however, is the shocking accusation that the
painting belongs not to Beazley’s client but to Hilda Baum,
the daughter of a Dutch collector who lost his paintings–
and his life–to the Nazis. The case brings an unexpected surprise when Mara discovers
that Beazley’s in-house attorney is Michael Roarke, a man
for whom she once had an intense attraction. But the same
skills that make her a brilliant litigator also make Mara
suspicious, and she begins to believe that Hilda’s tragic
family story might be more than just heartbreaking–it might
be true. And the man she’s come to love might not be who
she thought he was at all. Spanning centuries and continents, The Chrysalis is a
brilliant, intelligent, fast-paced thriller that melds art
and history into a provocative work of fiction. From the
underground Catholicism inseventeenth-century Holland to
the unspeakable crimes of the Nazis and the repercussions
that reverberate to this day throughout the art world,
Heather Terrell has created a fascinating story that will
entrance readers to the very last page.
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