Customer Reviews

The Chrysalis: A Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Chrysalis is Terrell's first book, and her legal training and experience are evident here in this fascinating historical mystery.

The story is told in three distinct eras:

1) the first is the creation of the painting, The Chrysalis, by Johannes Miereveld, a Dutch artist from the 1600s.

2) The second is the story of the owner in 1944, the Baum family in Belgium, Jews who have converted to Catholicism, and who love the painting for its Catholic iconography.

3) The bulk of the tale is told in the present day, when Beazley's auction house is planning on selling it for an unidentified seller, and Hilda Baum sues for the painting, claiming it was stolen from her family by the Nazis.

Beazley's provenance research shows it was sold by the family to a dealer in Nice. Mara Coyne, an attorney at a prestigious Manhattan firm, is convinced winning this case will encourage her firm to offer her a partnership. A bit dismayed when she finds out that the attorney for Beazley's that she will be working with is Michael Roarke, a sensitive and intelligent man she was attracted to in college. Still she soldiers on and her legal research proves brilliant. Her ability to keep her distance from Michael, however, is not so good--they form a secret relationship quickly. Mara also finds herself getting close to the main provenance researcher for Beazley's, the elderly Lillian Joyce. A sudden email discovery shows that her case and all she knows about Michael and Lillian may be false; her world is shattered. Does she want to be party to a fraud?

The various eras are portrayed well. I wish the book were longer so we could have lingered more in the 1600s with Johannes and Amalia.

Armchair Interviews says: The legal roadblocks to proving a painting's ownership when stolen by the Nazis are really amazing.

I've read two books by Heather Terrell and enjoyed both. The Map Thief and this book are both enjoyable reads. I like the way the author goes back and forth in time.

I did not want to put this book down! I loved the characters and the past and present story lines. A well written, thought provoking story and an entertaining mystery all in one.

Wonderful story lines and characters! I was on the edge of my seat. Loved the deep, colorful images and crisp writing style!

I loved this. I was amazed that the author could create this believable and complicated conflict over a painting and then 1) show what actually happened to the painting (who bought and sold it -- legitimately or not; and 2) show the painting of the painting of itself -- in 15th century Holland! This last story line was my favorite. So much here throughout though: art, religion, morality. Betrayal and mystery. Aboslutely loved this.

I really enjoyed this book. It was well developed and researched. I can't wait until her next book comes out.

It's a little slow, but it keeps me hanging on wanting to know what is going to happen next.

I read this book some time ago, and just noticed that Ms. Terrell has a new book out called THE MAP THIEF, which I admit I have not read. But I did read CHRYSALIS, and enjoyed it very, very much. In fact, I read it back when it was still in galley form, and was impressed by the art history details, by Ms. Terrell's ability to keep the suspense ticking away, and by the way she captured the art world. It kept me entertained during a very long plane ride. The reason I'm putting in my two cents' worth now is that I just noticed the review from Publishers Weekly, and cannot believe how wrongheaded and cruel it is. They would have you believe this is a bad novel; may I say that the PW review is, in fact, the worthless piece of writing here?

I hope Ms. Terrell keeps writing many books to come. She can certainly create intriguing plots.

I loved this book!! It is smart, fun and exciting. I can't wait for more books by this author. Heather Terrell is a up and coming star.

I am seriously baffled by the rave reviews for this book. The author, an attorney, should have learned principles of grammar even before law school, so why the run on sentences, apparently unintended sentence fragments, lack of agreement and misplaced modifiers--ie. "silk persimmon dress"-- an artificial silk fruit, or orange dress???? And what color is "cimarron"? I tried a lot of dictionaries for that one with no success at all. Did she mean cinnabar? I think there were serious plot and characterization flaws, but the truth is that I was so bogged down by the prose that it was hard to get past it and focus on the story. Has the publisher fired all its copy editors? I think one star is too many--any promise it had was elimated by shoddy editorial work. A real shame because the premise was good and it should have been exactly the type of novel I like best.