Artifice

A dramatic story of duplicity and resistance, betrayal and loyalty, set against the backdrop of World War II, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Light in Hidden Places.

Isa de Smit grew up in the glittering, color-filled world of art in her eccentric father's small gallery, mingling with artists and collectors, until the Nazis invaded her city of Amsterdam. With her beloved city firmly in their grip, the Nazis have removed everyone and everything Isa holds dear; her best friend, Truus, and her boyfriend, Willem, have fled to join the shadowy Dutch resistance; and masterpiece by masterpiece, the Nazis are buying and stealing her country's heritage, feeding the Third Reich's ravenous appetite for culture and art.

With the gallery's artwork confiscated by the Nazis and the taxes due, Isa decides to sell her first fake--a Rembrandt copy drawn years ago by her father--and is shocked to learn that the buyer is the Fuhrer himself. Then on the way to the auction, she discovers that Truus and Willem are smuggling Jewish babies out of Amsterdam into hiding.

The sale of the Rembrandt goes without a hitch, despite the sharp eye of the young German soldier registering the art. For Isa, selling a forgery to the Nazis feels less like a crime and more like an act of vengeance on behalf of her country.

But Truus and Willem cannot save more children without money. A lot of money. And Isa thinks she knows how to get it. If she can create one more forgery, a copy of an exquisite Vermeer masterpiece, she is certain that the Nazis will pay a fortune to own it.

Isa is up against a ticking clock, as the Nazis plan to deport the last of Amsterdam's Jews to the concentration camps in just a few days' time. But someone is on to Isa's plan. With everything on the line, and stakes as high as they possibly could be, Isa wonders, will she be arrested as a forger--, or outed as a collaborator, and the children shipped to their deaths?

Award-winning author Sharon Cameron weaves a gorgeously evocative thriller, simmering with twists and tension, where worth is not always seen from the surface, and a fake can be difficult to spot.