by Tom Rachman
For a minute, the crowd clears. Marsden is alone in the room, standing before Pinch’s paintings and Natalie’s pots. He urges his eyes to hurry, to absorb this, to save this sight.
Gradually other visitors drift in. He takes a last glance around, presses “Play” on the audio guide, and proceeds toward the exit. “From these masterpieces, Bear Bavinsky speaks,” the narration concludes. “Even today, even beyond the grave—from these paintings, truly, we know him.”
Acknowledgments
My gratitude to those who generously contributed to my research with conversation, books, or lessons, including Haidee Becker, Milton Gendel, Jacob Burckhardt, Peter Miller, Alvin Curran, Rosemary Donegan, Charlie Hill, Edmund de Waal, Sue Salies, Peter Rockwell, Robert Cook, Nina Berson, Ian Mader. Here in London, warm thanks to Natasha Fairweather and Max Edwards; and in New York, Elyse Cheney and Alex Jacobs. Also, Andrea Schulz and Emily Wunderlich at Viking. Jon Riley and Rose Tomaszewska at Quercus. Michael Heyward at Text. My valued friend Patricia Reimann at dtv. Lasting appreciation to Aldo and Margherita for kindly allowing me to write at their home in Puglia. To Carla for helping me decipher the art world, and Gideon for bottled deliveries. My most-valued art appraisers: Clare, Jack & Samuel. And my first Italian teacher, Ian Martin. Lastly, my love to Alessandra and the Chooky.
About the Author
TOM RACHMAN is the author of two novels, The Rise & Fall of Great Powers, and The Imperfectionists, an international bestseller that has been translated into twenty-five languages. Rachman, who was born in London in 1974 and raised in Vancouver, studied journalism at Columbia University in New York. In 1998, he joined the Associated Press as a foreign-desk editor in New York, then became a correspondent in Rome in 2002. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, Slate, and the Washington Post, among other publications. He lives in London.
