Painting

Anika Molnar leaves Hungary shortly before the Soviet Union dissolves, bringing little more than a small suitcase and a painting from her family's concealed art collection. The work shows an auburn-haired woman in a cobalt gown. Settling with her aunt in Sydney, she keeps the painting in her bedroom, where it is the centrepiece of her new life.

One day the painting disappears in a theft that looks carefully arranged, and Anika's easy existence darkens. As suspicion falls on the painting's origins, buried secrets from her family's history and the turbulent history of Hungary come to light, and she sets out to learn what really happened.

The novel sets the scars of Hungary's wartime past against the promise of a fresh start in Australia, combining a detective-style search with a close look at family loyalty and inheritance.