KERRY POSTLE left King’s College London with a distinction in her MA in French Literature. She’s written articles for newspapers and magazines, and has worked as a teacher of Art, French, German, Spanish, and English. Kerry’s first novel, The Artist’s Muse, came out in 2017, followed by A Forbidden Love in 2019.
She lives in Bristol with her husband. They have three grown-up sons.
The Woman in the Painting is her third novel.
‘Richly entertaining, wry and funny, and at the same time dark, thoughtful and allusive’
‘A richly layered read, that delivers on many levels’
‘Postle has taken me into a world full of characters that jump off the page with life’
‘This novel evokes a time and a place with such power’
The Artist’s Muse
A Forbidden Love
The Woman in the Painting
KERRY POSTLE
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2020
Copyright © Kerry Postle
Kerry Postle asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008331092
E-book Edition © May 2020 ISBN: 9780008310288
Version: 2020-04-20
Table of Contents
About the Author
Praise for Kerry Postle
Also by Kerry Postle
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Historical Note
Acknowledgements
Extract
About the Publisher
For Simon
for loving my books when he hates historical fiction.
Raphael’s house, Rome, April 1520
The heavens opened and the rain poured down, making the streets of Rome look like streams. I was standing outside the studio I’d been working in for days, trying to dry off before entering, an ever-increasing puddle forming around my feet. I shuddered, wet and cold. The light was gloomy. I looked around. Outside, the clouds were dark, loud, threatening; inside, a sense of foreboding enveloped me like a cape. I never did like this weather. It always filled the air with sorrow, and now it gave me the uneasy