The Peacock Room

En gennemgang af Smithsonian Institutions Peacock Room, indrettet af J.A.M. Whistler (1834-1903)

"When Allegra discovers her husband's infidelity. Her world crashes down around her. It is the ramblings of her elderly grandfather that awaken her interest in historic, interior architecture. On a trip to Florence she is visits her grandfather's birth village in Tuscany. Ready to meet someone new, Allegra ends up beguiled by a handsome Italian man and involved in a dangerous situation that becomes the catalyst for an unexpected discovery. Allegra returns to London only to be confronted with bad news. In the wake of her grandfather's demise she commits to the promise she gave him to solve a family mystery. Sammezzano Castle reveals the perfect historic backdrop to stimulate Allegra's love of architecture, to discover her true heritage and to indulge in a passionate love affair"--Back cover.

The peacock room in Sammezzano Castle is an actual place in Tuscany, Italy. This story is a liberating, romantic read - an absolute page turner. It will take you to magical places, both in the past and the present; you will never want the story to end.

A new novel from Angela Cervantes that uses the story of Frida Kahlo to help readers discover the true power of heritage, art, and family. A room locked for fifty years.A valuable peacock ring.A mysterious brother-sister duo.Paloma Marquez is traveling to Mexico City, birthplace of her deceased father, for the very first time. She's hoping that spending time in Mexico will help her unlock memories of the too-brief time they spent together. While in Mexico, Paloma meets Lizzie and Gael, who present her with an irresistible challenge: The siblings want her to help them find a valuable ring that once belonged to beloved Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Finding the ring means a big reward -- and the thanks of all Mexico. What better way to honor her father than returning a priceless piece of jewelry that once belonged to his favorite artist! But the brother and sister have a secret. Do they really want to return the ring, or are they after something else entirely?

Set against the stunning backdrop of Sammezzano Castle, past meets present in the glorious Tuscan sun.Allegra O'Brien has it all: a beautiful family, a loving husband and a stunning west London home. But when she discovers her husband's infidelity, that world crashes down around her. With an ageing mother and two teenagers to support, Allegra seeks solace in the bosom of her Italian family. But it is the ramblings of her elderly grandpapa that awaken an interest in historic, interior architecture, and their legendary Mama Cosima. Inspired and invigorated, Allegra takes a trip to her grandpapa's birth village in Tuscany to learn more about her heritage. Whilst there, a dangerous encounter with a handsome Italian man throws her off course, but in the wake of her grandpapa's illness, Allegra makes an unexpected discovery and commits to the promise she made to solve a family mystery.

Take a dilapidated castle in the Scottish Highlands; add a peacock gone rogue, a group of bankers on a teambuilding trip, an overwhelmed psychologist, a housekeeper with a broken arm, and an ingenious cook; get Lord and Lady McIntosh to try and keep it all together; and top it off with all sorts of animals – soon no one will know exactly what's going on. Selling 500,000 copies, Isabel Bogdan's book is a big hitter in Germany – and now it's coming home to roost.

A princess in a portrait by the famous American painter, James McNeill Whistler, tells how he transforms the dreary room where she hangs in his wealthy patron's house in London into the spectacular Peacock Room.

From “one of the most perceptive, compassionate writers of fiction in America...immensely talented and brave” (Michael Schaub, NPR), a historical saga about love, class, and the past we never escape. The Peacock Feast opens on a June day in 1916 when Louis C. Tiffany, the eccentric glass genius, dynamites the breakwater at Laurelton Hall—his fantastical Oyster Bay mansion, with columns capped by brilliant ceramic blossoms and a smokestack hidden in a blue-banded minaret—so as to foil the town from reclaiming the beach for public use. The explosion shakes both the apple crate where Prudence, the daughter of Tiffany’s prized gardener, is sleeping and the rocks where Randall, her seven-year-old brother, is playing. Nearly a century later, Prudence receives an unexpected visit at her New York apartment from Grace, a hospice nurse and the granddaughter of Randall, who Prudence never saw again after he left at age fourteen for California. The mementos Grace carries from her grandfather’s house stir Prudence’s long-repressed memories and bring her to a new understanding of the choices she made in work and love, and what she faces now in her final days. Spanning the twentieth century and three continents, The Peacock Feast ricochets from Manhattan to San Francisco, from the decadent mansions of the Tiffany family to the death row of a Texas prison, and from the London consultation room of Anna Freud to a Mendocino commune. With psychological acuity and aching eloquence, Lisa Gornick has written a sweeping family drama, an exploration of the meaning of art and the art of dying, and an illuminating portrait of how our decisions reverberate across time and space.