Gothic, horror suspense set on a “God-Forgotten” island off SCOTLAND
Novel set in COPENHAGEN at Christmas
4th December 2024
All I Want for Christmas by Karen Swan, novel set in Copenhagen at Christmas.
Darcy is studying at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen for her professorship – on secondment from the Courtauld in London – and she finds herself involved in a retrospective of the artist Johan Trier, whose work is often compared to that of John Singer Sargent. The exhibition is opening in the New Year and at this stage a discovery of another portrait hidden behind one of his pieces, to wit “Her Children”, causes the team to go into excited overdrive. Given the focus on the upcoming exhibition, Darcy is probably the only person who can fit in some research and try and find out the identity of the sitter.
In her personal life she has been encouraged onto a dating app by her good friend and flatmate, and after a couple of non-starters, she settles on seeing Aksel, a vet. It is a slow start but progresses steadily, although he is probably lacking in the charm department; he does, though, have quite a few anecdotes to share from his veterinary practice. Meanwhile, as she works at speed on the project in hand, her eye is caught by Max, who is on the board of the Madsen Foundation, the organisation supporting the exhibition. As his apartment is just down the road from the academy, he suggests arranging for her to trawl the relevant files and boxes there – an unusual set-up given the insurers need an awful lot of persuasion to release the documents from their usual location (but that just goes to show what a power-broker he is!).
She is swiftly enamoured by him and a flirtatious future – which of course blows hot and cold (it is Karen Swan, after all!) – awaits her, given he is pictured every week in the press with a different (and beautiful) woman on his arm. Which of the two men will finally be ‘the’ one?
This is a fun and inventive story, with Darcy diligently negotiating her liaisons, all set against an interesting backdrop of art, provenance and connoisseurship. How lovely to find a mention of Joaquín Sorolla (do look up his work if you are not familiar with it).
A charming read, full of romance, to warm yourself up for the festive season.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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