Books and Brunch Book Club: ‘Stolen Beauty’ by Laurie Lico Albanese

Saturday, February 17, 2024
11:30 am - 12:30 pm

About the Book

From the dawn of the twentieth century to the devastation of World War II, this exhilarating novel of love, war, art, and family gives voice to two extraordinary women and brings to life the true story behind the creation and near destruction of Gustav Klimt’s most remarkable paintings.

In the dazzling glitter of 1900 Vienna, Adele Bloch-Bauer—young, beautiful, brilliant, and Jewish—meets painter Gustav Klimt. Wealthy in everything but freedom, Adele embraces Klimt’s renegade genius as the two awaken to the erotic possibilities on the canvas and beyond. Though they enjoy a life where sex and art are just beginning to break through the façade of conventional society, the city is also exhibiting a disturbing increase in anti-Semitism, as political hatred foments in the shadows of Adele’s coffee house afternoons and cultural salons.

Nearly forty years later, Adele’s niece Maria Altmann is a newlywed when the Nazis invade Austria—and overnight, her beloved Vienna becomes a war zone. When her husband is arrested and her family is forced out of their home, Maria must summon the courage and resilience that is her aunt’s legacy if she is to survive and keep her family—and their history—alive.

Will Maria and her family escape the grip of Nazis’ grip? And what will become of the paintings that her aunt nearly sacrificed everything for?

About the author

Laurie Lico Albanese grew up on Long Island and graduated from New York University with a degree in journalism. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine in 2016.She lives with her husband in Montclair, NJ, where they raised their two grown children and enjoys spending lots of time with book people and writers.

About the event

If you have any questions, please contact Carrie Ratterman at cratterman@cc-pl.org

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