Portrait of an Unknown Lady

‘Vividly detailed and saturated with intricate feeling, Gainza’s novel is an engrossing exploration of authenticity, obsession, and the enveloping allure of art’ – Alexandra Kleeman, author of SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUNThis is a truly exquisite novel… It is moving, clever and written wry precision… As much as the narrator is haunted, the reader will be haunted – Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *Gainza weaves a fascinating, often confounding story about beauty, obsession and authenticity… Gainza is sharp, modern and playful, a writer who multiples the possibilities of fiction – Johanna Thomas-Corr * Observer *A richly detailed detective novel of sorts that explores authenticity and the distance between the way things appear and they way they really are – Chiara Rimella * Monocle *Dazzling… [a] clever novel that explores the gap between what’s remembered and what’s real – Chloë Ashby * Spectator *[A] dazzling novel about art and authenticity… the novel packs a huge amount into its 208 pages. If the reader is never quite sure what’s fact and what’s fiction, that’s just part of the fun – John Self * Guardian *Wonderful… Gainza is fast becoming one of Argentina’s most sophisticated writers thanks to the imaginative twirls her writing takes * Times Literary Supplement *A delight * Scotsman, Summer Reads of 2022 *Unsettling, super-sophisticated games with the unsaid and unsayable * Times Literary Supplement, Books of the Year *

Maria Gainza was born in Buenos Aires, where she still resides. She has worked as a correspondent for the New York Times in Argentina, as well as for ARTnews, and has contributed to Artforum, The Buenos Aires Review, and Radar, the cultural supplement from Pa gina/12. Her debut novel, Optic Nerve, translated by Thomas Bunstead, was shortlisted for the 2020 LA Times Art Seidenbaum award for First Fiction, a finalist in the 2020 National Translation awards, and a New York Times ‘Notable Book’ of 2019.

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