Product Description
Paris, 1927, a day in July. A destitute young American named Rafaela Fano gets into the car of a dazzling stranger, the Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka. Struggling to halt a downward slide toward prostitution, Rafaela agrees to model for the artist. The two become lovers, and Rafaela inspires Tamara’s most accomplished and prized works of art, including Beautiful Rafaela, “one of the most important nudes of the twentieth century” (New York Times).
The relationship between the artist and her muse lasted less than a year, yet in 1980, just before Tamara died, she was working on a copy of Beautiful Rafaela. Author Ellis Avery imagines their affair from Rafaela’s point of view, and the final day of Tamara’s life from the painter’s point of view. A window into Jazz Age Paris as the forces of history close in, The Last Nude is a story of genius and craft, art and money, friendship and desire.
The relationship between the artist and her muse lasted less than a year, yet in 1980, just before Tamara died, she was working on a copy of Beautiful Rafaela. Author Ellis Avery imagines their affair from Rafaela’s point of view, and the final day of Tamara’s life from the painter’s point of view. A window into Jazz Age Paris as the forces of history close in, The Last Nude is a story of genius and craft, art and money, friendship and desire.
Reviews/Praise
—Sound Commentary
“Plummer . . . captures [young Rafaela’s] appealing energy. . . . Caruso narrates the artist’s part just as convincingly. . . . This is an excellent production of a fascinating story.”
—AudioFile
“Breaks important ground for literature, and does so with exuberance, skill and grace.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“A wholly original and engrossing story, set in a fascinating time and place . . . and a display of exceptional talent.”
—The Boston Globe
“What’s not to love about Ellis Avery’s romantic novel.”
—Oprah.com
“Absorbing, affecting, and agitating . . . this work is highly recommended.”
—Library Journal [HC starred review]
“The strength of Avery’s novel lies in her depiction of a driven and accomplished artist and an impressionable waif who finds that her beauty no longer belongs to her.”
—Publishers Weekly
“As erotic and powerful as the paintings that inspired it.”
—Emma Donoghue, author of Room
“Seductive . . . intelligent . . . smoking hot.”
—Emily Barton, author of Brookland
“A taut, elegant novel...[Avery’s] prose sings.”
—More Magazine
“Subtle and seductive. . . . Avery’s breathtaking shimmer of first love and its aftermath will turn heads.”
—Booklist [starred review]
Author Bio
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