In search of lost art
Brooklyn BookBeat
In Ellen Umansky’s transporting novel, “The Fortunate Ones,” about fate, guilt and the ability of our memories to sustain us, one very special work of art — a Chaim Soutine painting — will connect the lives of two very different women separated by generations but struggling with similar demons.
Based on historical fact — Chaim Soutine was a Jewish artist who died in France during World War II while in hiding from the Nazis — and featuring a dual-narrative that moves between Vienna in World War II to contemporary Los Angeles, “The Fortunate Ones,” published by William Murrow (an imprint of Harper Collins), unfolds in crystalline, atmospheric prose, revealing a haunting story of longing, devastation and forgiveness and a deep examination of the bonds and memories that map our private histories.