Portrait of an Unknown Lady

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 New York Times Notable Book 2019.

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 a 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.