S. F. Prescott

A magical twist on a traditional love story!

Morgan Pager is a publishing professional and the content creator behind @nycbookgirl. A graduate of Duke University, Morgan lives on the Upper West Side with her husband and their cat. The Art of Vanishing is her first novel.

This was such a cute story! I never read romance, but took a chance on something outside my comfort zone when I picked up, The Art of Vanishing by Morgan Pager. This romantic, feel-good story kept me turning the pages until the end, offering so much more than I expected. It has love, art, a museum, history, time travel elements, and action (the most surprising)-which I loved. I immediately fell in love with Claire and Jean, rooting for them throughout. The idea that Claire could step inside the art was so magical and was my favorite element of the story. Their character arcs were believable and made sense in the end (even though I hoped for a different outcome, it wouldn’t have been sustainable for either). I loved the museum setting, learning about the art was a highlight, and at one point it felt like I was on one of the guided tours. A nice touch, allowing the reader to learn without an obvious info-dump. I was gripped, especially in the second half when the action intensified unexpectedly, adding an interesting layer to the story, and propelling the pace. There are so many scenes I loved and remember vividly, but the image I keep picturing is Claire mopping the floor after hours, and all the paintings coming to life around her. It makes me want to visit the museum immediately!

For readers who enjoy a unique premise, stories that blend love, art and time, and heartfelt characters.

Synopsis:

Jean’s life is the same day in and day out. Frozen in time by his painter father, the legendary Henri Matisse, Jean observes the ebb and flow of museum guests as they take in the works of his father and other masters like Renoir, Picasso, and Modigliani. But his world takes a mesmerizing turn when Claire, a new museum employee, enters his life.

Night after night, Claire moves through the gallery where Jean’s painting hangs, mopping the floors, talking softly to herself to stem her loneliness, and gazing admiringly at the masterpieces above. The alluring man in the corner of the Matisse—is he watching her? Why does she feel a deepening pull to him, like he can see her truest self, her most profound secrets? Did he just move?

In an extraordinary twist of fate, Claire discovers she can step through the frame of Jean’s painting and into a bygone era, a lush, verdant snapshot of family life in France in the throes of the First World War. She and Jean begin a seemingly impossible affair, falling in love against the backdrop of the gallery’s other paintings come to life—glittering parties, exhilarating horse races, and windswept beach bluffs—which they can move through together and where Claire is seemingly the only outside visitor, alone in possession of this gift.

But as their happiness is threatened by challenges both inside and outside the museum, Claire and Jean find themselves in a fight to preserve the love they’ve hardly dared to dream of. Will their extraordinary connection defy the confines of reality, or will the forces conspiring against them shatter their carefully curated happiness?