# Portrait of an Unknown Lady

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/maria-gainza/portrait-of-an-unknown-lady/9781473597266

![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)

- Book: [Portrait of an Unknown Lady](https://www.bookquiver.com/maria-gainza/portrait-of-an-unknown-lady) ([Portrait of an Unknown Lady.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/maria-gainza/portrait-of-an-unknown-lady.md))
- Authors: [Maria Gainza](https://www.bookquiver.com/maria-gainza)
- Publisher: vintage_digital
- Translated by: Thomas Bunstead
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-14-7359-726-6
- Published: 2022-03-03
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## 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.