The Muralist by B.A. Shapiro

Alizée Benoit, an American painter working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), vanishes in New York City in 1940 amid personal and political turmoil. No one knows what happened to her. Not her Jewish family living in German-occupied France. Not her artistic patron and politial compatriot, Eleanor Roosevelt. Not her close-knit group of friends, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Lee Krasner. And, some seventy years later, not her great-niece, Danielle Abrams, who while working at Christie's auction house uncovers enigmatic paintings hidden behind recently found works by those now famous Abstract Expressionist artists. Do they hold the answers to the questions surrounding her missing aunt?

Entwining the lives of both historical and fictional characters, and moving between the past and the present, The Muralist plunges readers into the divisiveness of prewar politics and the largely forgotten plight of European refugees refused entrance to the United States. It captures both the inner workings of today's New York art scene and the beginnings of th vibrant and quintessentially American school of Abstract Expressionism.

Our book group meets quarterly to discuss the book of the quarter! Each quarter's book is from Book Club in a Box, a program of the Jewish Community Library of San Francisco, which provides copies of our chosen books which can be borrowed from the temple office. Pick up your copy, read it, then come to the temple and enjoy a spirited conversation about it!