In The Full Light Of The Sun

By Clare Clark

Based on a true story, this gorgeous novel follows the fortunes of three Berliners caught up in an art scandal—involving newly discovered van Goghs—that rocks Germany amid the Nazis’ rise to power.

In the turbulent years between the wars, nothing in Berlin is quite what it seems.

Not for Emmeline, a wayward young artist freewheeling wildly through the city in search of meaning. Not for Julius, an eminent art connoisseur who finds it easier to love paintings than people. And most definitely not for Frank, a Jewish lawyer who must find a way to protect his family and his principles as the Nazis begin their rise to power.

But the greatest enigma of them all is Matthias, the mercurial art dealer who connects them all. Charming and ambitious, he will provoke a scandal—involving newly discovered paintings by Vincent van Gogh—that turns all of their lives upside down.

Inspired by true events, this brilliant, humane novel peels back the cherished illusions that sustain us to reveal the truths beneath. A book about beauty and justice, vanity and self-delusion, it asks: Do we see only what we want to see? Even in the full light of the sun?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9780544146822

Clare Clark

CLARE CLARK is the author of four novels, including The Great Stink, which was long-listed for the Orange Prize and named a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and Savage Lands, also long-listed for the Orange Prize. Her work has been translated into five languages. She lives in London.

Reviews for In The Full Light Of The Sun

[maryreinert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I probably should have liked this more but got distracted which isn't a good thing to do when reading a somewhat complicated plot. This is the story of an art critic who loves a painting by Van Gogh more than his own family; the story of a rebellious young woman attempting to be an artist, and the story of an art dealer who may or may not be selling forgeries of Van Gogh.Set in early Nazi German, the story does tell the creeping control the Nazi had and the various ways people had to deal with that. The most likeable character in the book is an attorney who represents the art dealer who has a brother who it seems made many of the forgeries. Really should have liked this better, but it is more on my end than that of the author. Gee, after reading some of the other reviews, maybe it wasn't me after all. Do agree that I did like the setting and the idea of the plot.

[miss.mesmerized · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The 1920s are tough in post-war Germany, but the show must go on and the art market flourishes despite all economic struggles. Yet, where money can be made, fraudsters aren‘t far away. Julius is a Berlin based art dealer and specialist in van Gogh; Rachmann is a young Düsseldorf art expert who is hoping to make a career in the business, too; Emmeline is a talented artist and rebel. Since the art world is a small one, their paths necessarily cross and one of the biggest frauds in art links them.I have been a lover of novels set in the 1920s and 1930s in Berlin since this was a most inspiring and interesting time of the town. Not just big politics after the loss in the first word war and then the rise of the Nazi party, but also the culture and entertainment industries were strong and the whole world looked at the German capital. Quite logically, Clare Clark‘s novel caught my interest immediately. However, I am a bit disappointed because the book couldn‘t live up to the high expectations.I appreciate the idea of narrating the scandal from three different perspectives and points in time. The downside of this, however, was that the three parts never really merge into one novel but somehow remain standing next to each other linked only loosely. At the beginning, I really enjoyed the discussions about art and van Gogh‘s work, but this was given up too quickly and replaced with the characters‘ lamentations and their private problems which weren‘t that interesting at all and made reading the novel quite lengthy.