The Music Lesson

by Katharine Weber

Book Overview

"She's beautiful," writes Irish-American art historian Patricia Dolan in the first of the journal entries that form The Music Lesson. "I look at my face in the mirror and it seems far away, less real than hers."

The woman she describes is the subject of the stolen Vermeer of the novel's title. Patricia is alone with this exquisite painting in a remote Irish cottage by the sea. How she arrived in such an unlikely circumstance is one part of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307718069
• ISBN13: 9780307718068
• Release Date: January 2011
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Sorry it went so quickly

A great find. All thrillers should be written this way: beautiful descriptive writing, all the time drawing you into a web of art and deception. I found the characters real and believable. And I never saw the ending coming. This book is making the rounds among my bookclub friends to rave reviews.

what a wonderful book

Like Brian Moore, this is an author who knows how to combine the literary and the suspenseful. What a little masterpiece this is! Why is it not better known? Reminded me of the best of Muriel Spark. This is an original. More, please.

A beautiful story

Historical art expert Patricia Dolan has never fully recovered from the death of her daughter that subsequently led to her divorce. She throws herself fully into her work at New York's Frick Art Reference Library to forget her inner pain.Her distant cousin, Michael O'Driscoll comes to New York to obtain her help. Soon, the duo becomes lovers. She leaves America to live in a cottage in a remote part of Ireland. As the long winter sets in, Patricia has only a stolen painting by Vermeer, THE MUSIC LESSON, as company. As she keeps a diary, Patricia soon begins to transform herself, guided by the painting that is her sole companion. She now knows that she must choose between the beauty of art and the mundane pragmatic world of politics where love is not part of the equation.THE MUSIC LESSON is a clever, but strange psychological thriller that will elate sub-genre fans. The novel is mostly told through Patricia's diary, but that device does not slow down the tale for even a nanosecond. The story line is crisp though readers will question the naive motivations of Patricia even in her numb state. However, what makes this novel a winner is the characters, especially Patricia and the person in the painting. As with OBJECTS IN MIRRORS ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR, Katherine Weber scribes a taut thrilling tale of self awareness. Harriet Klausner 3/17/99

Fabulous read. I pray a motion picture will follow.

Weber doesn't miss a detail as she weaves us through a journey of fine art, militia, and international intrigue.Her main characters are are an attractive fortyish museum curator, who after personal tragedies finds she is living in an emotional gray fringe area, until unexpectedly falling in love with a younger, rugged Irishman, who has much deeper roots to the mother land than anyone would ever expect.Weber teaches us some of the mystery behind fine paintings, and as well, of national and personal oppression. She has a keen sense for looking at one's inner self, and can gracefully script bedroom scenes which are naughty without offending the reader. Even the most avid of mystery lovers will never foretell her rich surprise ending.This novel is a jewel.

a lyrical, original marriage of politics, romance, art

This masterful telling of a blending of Irish politics, a naive romantic and a breathtaking work of art, all set in an Irish coastal setting that makes you want to get on an Aerlingus flight is one of those slender books that you salute because of all the waste it left out. The pure essenceof what literature hopes to be. Transports you, intrigues you, makes you feel clever and then turns the tables. If you ever wanted to be a writer, this book would be an inspiration and an intimidation. If only more publishers supported books like this!