jesforeverlostinbooks's review
hopeful
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
4.0
This was fascinating… I love a good historical fiction that has me looking up more information while I’m readings. The Stolen Lady is about the appreciation of art and those who sacrificed to preserve it. Told through three different storylines, this book chronicles the Mona Lisa from three very different perspectives and settings. Leonardo Divinci, Bellina… a house servant in Lisa's household and Anne… 1940's Louvre worker who drives the trucks and risks her safety to preserve the art for generations to come. I enjoyed learning more about Lisa and Leonardo and I loved the 1940’s timeline learning about the many people sacrificed so much to preserve these miraculous works of art for future generations. Informative and well researched, Morelli takes us on a historic adventure though the fifteenth century. In a time where the Mona Lisa and The David were created just few short miles away from each other. A time of political upheaval, religious fanaticism, Leonardo Divinci and the woman with a smile thats been frozen in time on canvas. I really enjoyed the audio & felt that it helped the stories move along.
One storyline is actually Leonardo da Vinci himself. He is the narrator. It follows him as he doubts himself and his work and cannot for the life of him finish a commission. He moves from Florence to Milan and back again but eventually ends up in France, where the Mona Lisa ends up. The second storyline is told from the perspective of Bellina, Lisa's maid. She has taken care of Lisa her whole life and is there when da Vinci starts to paint Lisa and she is there when the painting is never delivered and thought lost to the world. The last storyline is set in Paris in 1939 and details what happens when the Nazis are close and the curators are frantically transporting art from the Louvre to little-known houses in the countryside so the Nazis don't get them. The one painting they are most concerned about: the Mona Lisa. This book really is a gift of historical fiction. I was really interested in all the storylines but the one set in 1939 just fascinated me. I had no idea that so many people were involved in protecting the art and that they had to hide it away and secure it multiple times during the war so the Nazis wouldn't take it back to Germany. When Italy declared war on France, they sent letters demanding the Mona Lisa be given to them since the artist was Italian! There were countries fighting over that piece of art! It is remarkable the length people went to protect the priceless pieces.
One storyline is actually Leonardo da Vinci himself. He is the narrator. It follows him as he doubts himself and his work and cannot for the life of him finish a commission. He moves from Florence to Milan and back again but eventually ends up in France, where the Mona Lisa ends up. The second storyline is told from the perspective of Bellina, Lisa's maid. She has taken care of Lisa her whole life and is there when da Vinci starts to paint Lisa and she is there when the painting is never delivered and thought lost to the world. The last storyline is set in Paris in 1939 and details what happens when the Nazis are close and the curators are frantically transporting art from the Louvre to little-known houses in the countryside so the Nazis don't get them. The one painting they are most concerned about: the Mona Lisa. This book really is a gift of historical fiction. I was really interested in all the storylines but the one set in 1939 just fascinated me. I had no idea that so many people were involved in protecting the art and that they had to hide it away and secure it multiple times during the war so the Nazis wouldn't take it back to Germany. When Italy declared war on France, they sent letters demanding the Mona Lisa be given to them since the artist was Italian! There were countries fighting over that piece of art! It is remarkable the length people went to protect the priceless pieces.
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