The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer Hardcover - 2012

Media reviews

“A book everyone can enjoy . . . wonderful in the way it weaves [Klimt’s] life in with the history of the times, the history of the art world, and the impending rise of Hitler . . . fantastic in its implication of so very many groups and individuals in the holocaust itself and the stealing of art in particular.”
—The Daily KOS

“Illuminating and rewarding . . . compelling.”
—The Jewish Journal

“A 100-year saga involving sex, genocide, betrayal, a landmark legal battle and millions of dollars . . . harrowing . . . [a] scathing indictment . . . O’Connor gives each of her subjects a dignified historical airing.”
—Maclean’s

“The lives lost and the stories that flow from this one painting will haunt, sadden, anger, and stick with you indefinitely.”
—City Book Review

“An engrossing history . . . entering into the relationship of artist and model. . . . [A] breathless telling.”
—The Vienna Review of Books

“Skillfully filters Austria’s troubled twentieth century through the life of Klimt’s most beloved muse . . . The book’s strength lies in the depth of its details . . . offering readers a nuanced view of a painting whose story transcends its own time.”
—Bookforum

“[A] fascinating story of lust, beauty, greed, loss, prejudice, atrocity, and justice is told here with a wealth of glittering detail.”
—The Dispatch

“O’Connor . . . skillfully navigates the bizarre orbit of Klimt’s masterpiece . . . with depth of insight and righteous indignation. Whether or not you’ve marveled at Klimt’s shimmering portrait before, you won’t look at it the same way again.”
—Washingtonian
 
“Fascinating, ambitious, exhaustively researched . . . A mesmerizing tale of art and the Holocaust.”
—The Washington Post
 
“Writing with a novelist's dynamism, O'Connor resurrects fascinating individuals and tells a many-faceted, intensely affecting, and profoundly revelatory tale of the inciting power of art and the unending need for justice.”
—Booklist (starred review)
 
“Part history and part mystery, The Lady in Gold is a striking tale.”
—BookPage

“The dazzling, nearly surreal ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’ is about a lot more than just art. O'Connor captures the whole story.”
—Library Journal

“Every stolen painting has a story. The tale behind this one is epic.”
—Christian Science Monitor

“A fascinating book.”
—Dallas Morning News

“[An] evocation of a beautiful, vanished world.”
—Women's Wear Daily

“Fascinating tale of beauty, terror, loss and remembrance reveals a deeper truth beneath the golden surface.”
—Jonathan Lopez, Associated Press

“O'Connor has told an important story.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“Lusciously detailed.”
—Kirkus

“Encapsulates a fascinating, complicated cultural history of fin-de-siècle Vienna, its Jewish intelligentsia, and their near complete destruction by the Nazis....vividly evokes... how she became entwined with the charismatic, sexually charged, and irreverent Klimt...poignant and convincing...”
—Publisher’s Weekly

“Ignites many a startling flashpoint in the moral history of our time—a taut, rich, tangy and instructive read.”
—Frederic Morton

“Gripping in details and drama.”
—The Los Angeles Times

“Intricately webbed and shocking tale of this iconic work.”
—Donna Seaman