Stolen Beauty cover art

Stolen Beauty

A Novel

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About this listen

 “A powerful and important tale of love and war, art and family…I was transported.” —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author

“Albanese artfully weaves Adele’s story with Maria’s harrowing life under the Nazis, but it’s hard to read Stolen Beauty without seeing ugly echoes in today’s headlines. Seven decades after World War II, have we learned nothing?” —USA TODAY

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 1903 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 troubled by a disturbing increase in anti-Semitism as political hatred simmers in the shadows of Adele’s coffeehouse 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 stately home, Maria must summon the courage and resilience that is her aunt’s legacy if she is to survive and keep her loved ones—and their history—alive.

Will Maria and her family escape the grip of Nazi rule? And what will become of the paintings for which her aunt sacrificed nearly everything?

Impeccably researched and a “must-read for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and Paula McLain’s Circling the Sun” (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Stolen Beauty juxtaposes passion and discovery against hatred and despair, and shines a light on our ability to love, to destroy, and above all, to endure. Biographical Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction War Biography
All stars
Most relevant
Historical, biographical- dramatic, tragic- for me this story had it all- and I think it’s a topic for the times - relevant and worth remembering-

Fascinating Topical Art Story

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Loved everything about this book, the story, the ease with which the author moved back and forth in time and the narration as well.

Superb!

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We are about to look at Klimt and the Secessionists at an art group I go to so I typed in Klimt in audible and found this book. It is superb and extremely well narrated exploring the relationship between Adele Bloch Bauer and Klimt especially. Strongly recommended.

Golden extravaganza

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I stumbled upon this as I’ve listened to other books read by Gabra Zackman. It is about Klimt and feels like a sister book to The Flames, which is about Egon Schiele. However you devour them - on audio, ebook or in paperback, I highly recommend them both.

Fascinating storytelling, beautifully read, download it now!

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