THE BOOK FAIR

Review:

The fictional novel based a true story, concerns the theft of artwork stolen from Jews by the Nazis during WW II.  The book relates the story of Adele Bauer Bloch and her niece, Maria Bauer Altman.  The story moves back and forth and time and is told through the voices of Adele and Maria.

Adele, born at the turn of the century in Vienna, grew up rebellious, determined to have a life other than one circumscribed for women.  Encouraged by her bother, Adele demanded higher education and freedoms not generally open to women.  To attain her goals, Adele married Ferdinand Bloch, a man twice her age and much wealthier than her rich father, who promised her the freedoms she desired. 

Adele, thrilled by the beauty and magic of art, gained entrance to an avant-garde art showing, on the arm of her husband, where met Gustav Klimt, a Secessionist painter, in March of 1900.  Klimt, dazzled by Adele, offered to paint her.

Maria, close to her Aunt Adele, was encouraged by her to pursue her dreams.  Maria set her sights on Joseph Altman and decided to win the philandering bachelor.

Anti-Semitism, on the rise in Vienna before WW I, exploded after the war with Germany’s defeat and Hitler’s rise to power.  The Fuhrer made his first conquest, the Anschluss of Austria, in 1938.  The Jews summarily lost their rights, their homes, their jobs, their money, and their art collections.

In the 1980’s, Maria demanded retribution from the Austrian government:  that the artwork that belonged to her aunt and uncle, painted by Klimt, be returned to her.

The author depicts the harrowing nightmare for Jews under the Nazis in one chapter and in the next chapter, transitions to women’s suffrage pressing for social change.  The book is colorfully descriptive of Vienna and Paris including clothing, foods, and architecture, with both flamboyant and sensitive characters.  The author also enters an array of artists and paintings, popular of the time, into the story.