{"title":"Maria Gainza","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into Maria Gainza's evocative world, where art, memory, and intrigue intertwine. Perfect for readers who appreciate nuanced storytelling and richly drawn characters. Browse her captivating novels and essays now.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"portrait-of-an-unknown-lady-book-maria-gainza-9781787303249","title":"Portrait of an Unknown Lady","description":"In this dazzling story of art and illusion, secrets and schemes, who is to be trusted - and what is real?  From the internationally acclaimed author of Optic Nerve   *A TLS Book of the Year*  'A writer who feels immediately important' Observer  At a hotel in Buenos Aires, a woman checks in under a pseudonym. She wears a black fur shawl and has no luggage. She is alone.  Over the coming days and nights, she tells a story, which begins with a secret shared in a local bath house, revealing art forgery and fraud on a dazzling scale. At its heart is an enigmatic genius who for years forged portraits of the city's elite, before disappearing without trace. It is a story of influence and intrigue, in which nothing is as it seems. We're not to expect 'names, numbers or dates', she cautions, but a more subtle kind of reckoning...  Told in a mordant, irresistible voice and full of sharp surprises, Portrait of an Unknown Lady is a captivating enquiry into what we mean by 'authenticity', in life as in art. At once poised and capricious, elegant and bold, it is a thrilling exploration of the relationships between what is lived, what is told, what is remembered, and what is real.  Translated from the Spanish by Thomas Bunstead","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49514836328721,"sku":"GOR012269752","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49740941230353,"sku":"NGR9781787303249","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49874327077137,"sku":"GOR012376235","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50401296449809,"sku":"CIN1787303241G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51523436151057,"sku":"GOR012357278","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1787303241.jpg?v=1750897896"},{"product_id":"portrait-of-an-unknown-lady-book-maria-gainza-9781646220328","title":"Portrait of an Unknown Lady","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e Editors' Choice\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable author Mar a Gainza, who dazzled critics with \u003ci\u003eOptic Nerve\u003c\/i\u003e, returns with the captivating story of an auction house employee on the trail of an enigmatic master forger\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the Buenos Aires art world, a master forger has achieved legendary status. 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My techniques are those of the impressionist. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Driven by obsession and full of subtle surprise, \u003ci\u003ePortrait of an Unknown Lady\u003c\/i\u003e is a highly seductive and enveloping meditation on what we mean by authenticity in art, and a captivating exploration of the gap between what is lived and what is told.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49522779848977,"sku":"CIN1646220323G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1646220323.jpg?v=1751088912"},{"product_id":"optic-nerve-book-maria-gainza-9781787300279","title":"Optic Nerve","description":"‘A highly original, piercingly beautiful work, full of beautiful shocks… I felt like a door had been kicked open in my brain’ Johanna Thomas-Corr, Observer  A woman searches Buenos Aires for the paintings that are her inspiration and her refuge. Her life -- she is a young mother with a complicated family -- is sometimes overwhelming. But among the canvases, often little-known works in quiet rooms, she finds clarity and a sense of who she is . . .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    'I was reminded of John Berger's Ways of Seeing, enfolded in tender and exuberant personal narratives' Claire-Louise Bennett  'This woman-guide, who goes from Lampedusa to The Doors with crushing elegance, is unforgettable'  Mariana Enriquez  'A dazzling combination of memoir, fiction and art book, like nothing you’ve ever read before’ Elle","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49523196002577,"sku":"GOR009651612","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49648664314129,"sku":"GOR009811265","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50962426593553,"sku":"GOR009708319","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1787300277.jpg?v=1750801703"},{"product_id":"la-luz-negra-book-maria-gainza-9788433998637","title":"La luz negra","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49627788804369,"sku":"GOR012239004","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49661446390033,"sku":"GOR013717814","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/8433998633.jpg?v=1750839163"},{"product_id":"optic-nerve-book-maria-gainza-9781948226165","title":"Optic Nerve","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn this delightful autofiction―the first book by Gainza, an Argentine art critic, to appear in English―a woman delivers pithy assessments of world-class painters along with glimpses of her life, braiding the two into an illuminating whole. ―\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e, Notable Book of the Year and Editors' Choice\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe narrator of \u003ci\u003eOptic Nerve\u003c\/i\u003e is an Argentinian woman whose obsession is art. The story of her life is the story of the paintings, and painters, who matter to her. Her intimate, digressive voice guides us through a gallery of moments that have touched her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn these pages, El Greco visits the Sistine Chapel and is appalled by Michelangelo's bodies. The mystery of Rothko's refusal to finish murals for the Seagram Building in New York is blended with the story of a hospital in which a prostitute walks the halls while the narrator's husband receives chemotherapy. Alfred de Dreux visits G ricault's workshop; Gustave Courbet's devilish seascapes incite viewers to have sex, or to eat an apple; Picasso organizes a cruel banquet in Rousseau's honor . . . All of these fascinating episodes in art history interact with the narrator's life in Buenos Aires―her family and work; her loves and losses; her infatuations and disappointments. 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