This hilarious tale of fifties Paris, where Jack is a talented American painter in his mid thirties, who cannot resist the sharp practices of the art dealing world. Anne is a shy, repressed English art student, eager to extend her knowledge.
Their destinies collide in a faded, cosmopolitan Montmartre hotel. Their outrageous and unorthodox friends add richness and humour to the plot. Every woman knows that the first man with whom she falls in love will change her life forever. Touching romance develops into caring tenderness, eroticism, and great passion.
Whilst De Gaulle is climbing to power, the Algerian war rages and Vietnam is quietly fermenting. Paris sizzles with life and passion. Anne meets Salvador Dali at the launch of his illustrations of ‘Don Quichotte.’, attends swinging Sidney Bechet concerts, and enjoys colourful bohemian parties. Jack illegally exports French works of art and changes currency on the black market, until he is seized by the Sûreté National for questioning, then he escapes to Switzerland to open a secret bank account with Anne’s innocent help.
Many of Jack’s Impressionist purchases, as well as paintings by Roualt, Kandinsky and Seurat, all smuggled out of France, were to become involved in one of the most notorious American art frauds of the century. This is fully detailed on the website of The Institute for Art Research www.ifar.org (Background, Authentication & Fraud) under Jack’s real name of Hartert.

ISBN 9780953905607. Paperback 262 pages.