A birthday present from Emma, this novel travelled out to Walton and back again before I started it this weekend just gone.
Shuttling between mid-17th century life of down on his luck portrait painter van Rijn (Rembrandt), and 21st century girl Amy Dale, this is shaping up to be a lovely combination of historical novel with a quasi-Changing Rooms slant, and a smidgeon of Joanna Trollope thrown in for good measure.
Reminds me of Michael Frayn’s Headlong, and I suspect that it stems from the current trend in novels about Dutch art. However, as far as I can tell, neither Deborah Moggach’s Tulip Fever, or Tracy Chevalier’s Girl With a Pearl Earring, are set partly in modern day Hull!
Hmm… there’s a hint of Philippa Gregory here too….
Verdict: Haddock review
Buy it: Amazon link