Product Description

Drawing faithfully on Madama Zoia's actual correspondence and on accounts of her early life, Zoia's Gold tells the story of a remarkable woman and her bewitching world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #807805 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In this gorgeously written novel of suspense, which shifts between contemporary Sweden, czarist Russia and 1920s Paris, Sington uses the life of actual Russian-born painter Zoia Korvin-Krukovsky (1903–1999) as a puzzle—and fractured mirror—for the fictional Marcus Elliot, a British art dealer living in Sweden whose career is scuttled by his role in a scam importing undervalued icons. Commissioned to write a catalogue for an exhibition of Zoia's luminous paintings (gold leaf over gesso), Elliot becomes seduced across time by his subject, believing Zoia holds the key to the suicide of his Swedish-born mother. Sington beautifully captures the raw Baltic winter as Elliot delves into Zoia's correspondence, trying to determine whether her "Crimean" paintings are lost, destroyed or his own fevered fantasy. Elliot is unsure whether his work for another art dealer is part of a legitimate retrospective of Zoia's oeuvre or preparation for an illegal auction that will violate the old woman's will. Readers will come away intrigued by Korvin-Krukovsky and the cross-cultural conundrum Sington so elegantly constructs. Under the pseudonym Patrick Lynch, Sington has coauthored six thrillers. (Nov.)
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From Booklist
A solo effort for Sington, who with Gary Humphreys writes fast-paced thrillers under the Patrick Lynch pseudonym, this "psychological detective story" is a decided change of pace. Told through flashbacks and letters, this novel is loosely based on the real-life story of Madame Zoia, a Russian artist who was raised among the young royalty of the Romanov court. The enigmatic Madame Zoia dies in her Swedish country home in the winter of 1999, leaving behind a collection of her signature works painted on gold leaf as well as an assortment of letters and other private papers. Marcus Elliott, a former art dealer in disgrace from a black-market antiquities scandal, is hired to write the catalog for the sale of her paintings. As he begins to investigate her papers, he becomes mesmerized by her intriguing personal life: her privileged upbringing among the czarist nobility, dramatic escape from the Bolsheviks, artistic endeavors in the Bohemian Paris of the 1920s--not to mention her complex and varied love affairs. As Marcus uncovers her secrets, his growing obsession with her life and loves begins to have a strange effect on his own life. Mystery and suspense readers will find this slow going, but others may find it engrossing historical fiction. Michael Gannon
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A haunting, mesmerizing read."-- Belfast News Letter

Customer Reviews

Excellent
Elegantly written and exhaustively researched, this is a cracking read: atmospheric, original and increasingly pacey as it goes on. The fact that Madam Zoia was a real person adds verve to the tale. The Paris part of the story is a highlight, but the whole last third of the book is an absolute delight.
As a PS: after I had devoured the novel, I did some Internet research and found some great photogrpahs and background information on Zoia.

interesting biographical fiction
In 2000 London, art dealer Marcus Elliot is hired to write the catalog on the sale of works by the Russian-born artist Madame Zoia. The "painter on gold" is considered the last known survivor of the Bolshevik Court who died one year earlier in Stockholm. Marcus studies her work and her papers as he learns that the Russian painter Zoia "Madame Zoia" Korvin-Krukovskyas was born in 1903 Russia into an aristocratic family. In 1917, the Bolsheviks incarcerated her as they did any of the aristocracy they captured during the Revolution. A communist admirer got her free with her fleeing to Sweden before going to Paris and ultimately returning to live the rest of her life in Sweden.

This is an interesting biographical fiction work of Madame Zoia who proved you can go home when Yeltsin welcomed a show on her works in Moscow in 1993. The story line is at its best when it focuses on Madame Zoia's life in Paris, North Africa and Sweden whether it is through her letters of Marcus' musings filling gaps of knowledge. A subplot involving Marcus's family is well written, but feels intrusive from the prime theme of ZOIA'S GOLD that of an entertaining portrayal of a fascinating twentieth century artist, the last known living link to the Tsars.

Harriet Klausner