The Music Lesson - Katharine Weber

Part mystery, part self-reflection, this is the tale of an art historian who is numbed to life after the loss of her daughter when she has a visit from a long-lost cousin from Ireland.  He's charming and intoxicating and she has fallen madly in love when he asks her to help his cause by stealing a famous Vermeer painting.  Patricia is agreeable as she too sympathizes with the Irish desire for independence. She's vulnerable and malleable and finds herself deeply involved in the theft.

Some quotes:

"Life seems sometimes like nothing more than a series of losses, from beginning to end.  That's a given.  How you respond to these losses, what you make of what's left, that's the part you have to make up as you go."

"Even if life has to be a seris of losses, I still choose life".

The story is not quite plausible but the downward spiral into dark places is uncomfortably reminiscent of those times we chose the wrong path.

Since its's a mystery there's a nice twist at the end, a satisfying wrap up.

Published: 1999 Read: August 2016  Genre: Fiction/mystery


p.s.  Once again, I found bookmarks and bits of ephemera in a book.  The first bit I noticed in this one was a news clipping with a brief summary of the book, maybe from The New York Times?  There was a handwritten note on the side of the clippng in pencil "Huntings Badger 25" and a second line underneath "1-16-2000".  Nice script, presumably a female's, tucked before the back cover.  About halfway through the book was a torn white piece of paper, ragged on one edge and glue residue on the narrow side, most likely from a discarded envelope.  Someday I need to write a story about the bookmarks found in books.