# Portrait of an Unknown Lady

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/maria-gainza/portrait-of-an-unknown-lady

![Portrait of an Unknown Lady](https://quivercdn.com/covers/vintage-digital/maria-gainza/portrait-of-an-unknown-lady_978-14-7359-726-6-93c18b4b.webp?v=2026-10-01%2003%3A03%3A12)

- Authors: [Maria Gainza](https://www.bookquiver.com/maria-gainza)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2022-03-03

## Description

At a hotel in Buenos Aires, a woman checks in under a pseudonym. She wears a black fur shawl and has no luggage. She is alone. Over the coming days and nights, she tells a story, which begins with a secret shared in a local bath house, revealing art forgery and fraud on a dazzling scale. At its heart is an enigmatic genius who for years forged portraits of the city's elite, before disappearing without trace. It is a story of influence and intrigue, in which nothing is as it seems. We're not to expect 'names, numbers or dates', she cautions, but a more subtle kind of reckoning... Told in a mordant, irresistible voice and full of sharp surprises, Portrait of an Unknown Lady is a captivating enquiry into what we mean by 'authenticity', in life as in art. At once poised and capricious, elegant and bold, it is a thrilling exploration of the relationships between what is lived, what is told, what is remembered, and what is real.

## Editions

### Portrait of an Unknown Lady

- Publisher: catapult
- ISBN: 978-16-4622-175-2
- Pages: 192
- Published: 2023-03-21
- Language: en_US

### Portrait of an Unknown Lady

- Publisher: vintage_digital
- Translated by: Thomas Bunstead
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-14-7359-726-6
- Published: 2022-03-03
- Language: en_GB

### Portrait of an Unknown Lady

- Publisher: Harvill Secker
- Translated by: Thomas Bunstead
- ISBN: 978-17-8730-324-9
- Pages: 208
- Published: 2022-03-03
- Language: en_GB