Picked this up from the library; the cover description said that it told the story of a painting, and the lives of various people who owned it. So I assumed it would be a set of short stories, using the painting as a way to link them, but without the expectation that the characters would have any significant connection.

But it was more than that: the painting is by Gwen John (who's a real person, although I'd never heard of her), and so there's a big chunk about Gwen's life, before she gives the painting away and we follow its progress through the hands of five or six more people. And while the characters don't always know each other, their stories to interlink and sort of cross one another's wakes.

It was maybe a bit more like a Susan Howatch book, in that you got to love each character in turn, although the story flowed so nicely that it never seemed a disappointment to move on to another one. I really liked this book, so much that I was tempted to listen to it again straight away. I didn't, but I will re-read it.

Completed : 07-October-2016 (audiobook)