As Simon Raikes restores a fifteenth-century Venetian masterpiece, he becomes obsessed with the sculpture, becoming involved in a crime as he reconstructs the past and is drawn into the mysteries of love, betrayal, and violence

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She is the Madonna of the Annunciation, carved in Venice 540 years ago and now encrusted by an acid rain that rots the stone. Simon, an English sculptor who has turned to art restoration, labors ardently to save the statue's beauty. The stone is strangely luminous; the Virgin's gestures are ambiguous and provocative. Infatuated with the statue, Simon hallucinates about its past, glimpsing scenes of betrayal, murder and lust. Variations are replayed on these ancient passions as centuries blend into one another: Simon loves Chiara, whose body has been celebrated in bronze sculpture by her husband, Litsov, while the predatory art dealer Lattimer lurks ominously. British novelist Unsworth (Mooncranker's Gift provides knowledgable discourses on art, breathtaking scenes of Venice and a ripe plot that manages to link Renaissance glory to 18th century profligacy and contemporary intrigue.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Simon Raikes is given the task of restor ing a 15th-century sculpture of the Ma donna on a church in Venice. A frustrat ed artist himself, Simon is compelled to solve certain mysteries: Who was the sculptor? Why was the work sup pressed for two centuries? How did it earn consecration? As he begins to painstakingly shear away corrosion, the statue apparently confronts him with vi sions and stirs his passions. His search for answers leads to a local sculptor's wife, with whom Simon falls in love, and eventually to a new mystery. The author handles a variety of narrative voices and the aura of suspense well. By disclosing the lives of those involved with this Madonna at three significant historical times, Unsworth allows sub tle examination into the underlying theme, the attitudes men have toward women. Andrew Peters, Pioneer Multi-Cty. Lib., Norman, Okla.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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