Artifice

In 1943, Isa de Smit's main concern is finding the money to pay the taxes on her family's art gallery--even after the Nazis have taken all the artwork. After selling a forged Rembrandt, painted by her father, to the Nazis, she is elated at having fooled them. She decides to sell one more forged painting, a Vermeer, which will ensure the safety of the gallery. But after her friend Truus convinces her to help the Dutch resistance save Jewish babies from annihilation by the Nazis, she decides to use the money to rescue children. With help from unexpected places, Isa rushes to finish and sell the forged painting before the children are taken, all the while hoping she will be able to determine the difference between a fake and the real thing. Cameron returns with another page-turner full of courage, resilience, and beauty, illuminating the world of art and culture that was stolen and scattered by the Nazis during WWII. The novel--inspired by Dutch master forger Han van Meegeren, who sold paintings to Hermann Goering, and by Johan van Hulst, who saved over 600 Jewish children--weaves true stories into Isa's fictional one. An author's note describes the real people, giving readers more insight into the history behind this gripping read.

Cameron (Bluebird) entwines the world of fine art and forgeries with a Dutch Resistance mission to smuggle Jewish children out of the Netherlands in this tightly plotted, suspenseful novel, set in 1943 Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Following her mother's death, 18-year-old Isa DeSmit, who was brought up in the pre-war bohemian art society by painter parents, must manage the house (once also their gallery), while navigating her father's erratic, absent-minded behavior. Lacking money for taxes and coal, Isa sells her father's forgery of a Rembrandt to high-ranking Nazis, unwittingly beginning a dangerous entanglement with Nazi soldier Michel, who claims to be planning desertion. Allowing Resistance workers Truus, her childhood friend, and rigid Willem, Truss's boyfriend, access to her home as they rescue Jewish babies entangles Isa, together with Michel, in their cause, which plunges her deeper into selling--and eventually creating--more forgeries. Painterly prose ("the deep deep cobalt of regret") filled with rich intrigue depicts constantly shifting issues of trust in this complex, absorbing tale, based on historical figures, as detailed in the author's note. All characters cue as white. Ages 12--up. (Nov.)

Art, lies, and Nazis. In 1943, Isa de Smit survives the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam by keeping her head down. She hates the Nazis, who have taken some of her beloved friends, like Jewish artists Moshe and Hilde, and even executed her gay artist friend, Arondeus, for resisting. She knows that Truus, her former best friend, is in the Resistance, but 18-year-old Isa's job is protecting both the Gallery De Smit, including the hidden Vermeer, and looking after her widower father, an impractical painter. When she rebels by selling a fake Rembrandt to the Nazis for tax money, she's drawn into action via an uneasy alliance with a young art-loving Nazi soldier named Michel Lange who's craving escape, smuggling Jewish babies away before they're sent to their deaths, and interacting with collaborators and Nazis to sell forged art. Part historical thriller, part portrait of a life played out against a turbulent backdrop, this engrossing read inserts fictional Isa into the true stories of two fascinating historical figures, all of which is detailed in the lengthy author's note. The writing leans heavily on artistic descriptions, with painterly descriptions of both physical and emotional landscapes. Inattentive readers might sometimes get lost in the complex plotting, but this is a genuinely immersive, teen-centric answer to the historical thrillers that fill adult shelves and will satisfy plenty of readers. Gripping. (Historical thriller. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.