The Artist's Wife - Tapa dura

." . . Mr. Phillips explores the confused emotions of adolescent romance and the even more complicated world of adult attraction." "--The New York Times Book Review"

At the turn of the century, "the most beautiful girl in Vienna" stood at the threshold of a promising musical career. But instead, she turned her considerable talents to becoming a freelance muse. Passionate, fickle, brilliant and alcoholic she conquered a series of difficult geniuses, including the composer Gustav Mahler (whom she sent to Freud for marriage counselling); the architect Walter Gropius, who went on to found the Bauhaus movement; the writer Franz Werfel, author of The Song of Bernadette; and the revolutionary painters Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka. Deftly blending period detail and modern sensibility, Max Phillips presents the bold, unapologetic Alma, who narrates her own provocative story, bringing to life the luminaries of her era as she tells of her triumphs in the fading elegance of Central Europe's beau monde, her flight from Hitler's Anschluss and her exile in golden-age Hollywood. A glittering, darkly sensual novel, THE ARTIST'S WIFE turns the lens of history upon the nature of inspiration, ambition and love.