The Bellini Madonna by Elizabeth Lowry

The Bellini Madonna

Elizabeth Lowry

The language of this book rich, almost florid, full of literary and artistic allusions, which suits its unreliable first-person narrator, Lynch. However, any heaviness is undercut by the wonderful gap between the story Lynch thinks he's in - a genteel thriller about a missing art work - the story he's actually in, which is country house mystery, where he's the bumbling, somewhat creepy, uncle figure. The net result is erudite and entertaining.

Extract
And so I found myself furiously churning out 'Fur Elise' in this frowsy drawing room with its dank, shabby furniture, where the air itself seemed to have the substance of a shadow, even though the August sun hung like a blazing eye outside. All at once I was struck by the futility of what I had undertaken.
Parallels
  • An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
  • Doctrine of Labyrinths series by Sarah Monette
  • The Virgin in the Garden by A S Byatt