“There was a story in that painting, though I did not fully understand it. I merely knew that it was there.”
— Thomas James, The Portrait, 136-137
This is one of the self-published books I’ve had on my TBR shelf since I attended Storymakers conference this year and it did not disappoint (this review does contain a couple of spoilers, so be sure to look out for those)! I was initially drawn to its beautiful cover and once I learned it was a historical fiction suspense story, I was sold!
Summary
Iris Sheffield thinks she has won the jackpot when she gets engaged to the handsome Winston, wealthy heir to the glass business that is commissioned to build the glass palace to house Victoria and Albert’s “Great Exhibition.” With his help, Iris can surely afford to care for her ailing sister. However, after she discovers a mysterious journal at his estate, Iris finds herself caught in an intrigue that also surrounds her fiancé’s painted portrait. While she reluctantly has her own portrait painted by a dashing young painter named James, she enlists his help to solve the truth about her fiancé’s past before it is too late.
Likes
Setting. The story is set during the dawn of a significant event in London–the building of the Great Exhibition–which eventually became the bedrock for today’s infamous Victoria & Albert Museum (which I have visited before and each time was completely blown away by the sheer volume of all those artifacts!). I like reading stories where the setting is clearly defined, because it adds strength to the historical fiction genre as a whole.
Protagonist. The reader is immediately put in the mind of Iris, so when she uncovers elements of the plot, so do we. I like reading historical fiction in first-person narration, because it becomes easier for me to feel the fear, confusion, or thought-process of the character a little more clearly.
Mystery. Suspense is always an effective genre to pair with historical fiction and I definitely felt like I was caught up in the mystery surrounding this novel. It was not too predictable and I found myself asking questions like: “Is her fiancé good or bad?”, “What happened to the journal’s author?” “Will the romance develop?”.
Pacing. There were little to no lulls that took place throughout the story, which made it easy for me to finish the story without any long pauses between readings.
Dislikes
*Spoiler* Antagonist. This is just a personal opinion of mine, but I found myself wanting more evidence of whether or not Winston was the “bad guy”. There were subtle hints, but I felt like they could be more poignant in parts. I know that can be difficult without giving too much away, so I can see why the author held back on that.
*Spoiler* Love-Interest. I personally am not a fan of the arrogant love-interest unless they are humbled or their vulnerability shows through in some way later. While he had some moments of this, I still feel like James’s arrogance came back in the end, but that could have just been attributed to his character.
Author
This is Emilia Kelly’s debut self-published novel. I had the pleasure of meeting her at Storymakers and she was a very friendly person who informed me about her book and showed me a wonderful trailer for the novel that captured my interest even further. She includes a list of book club questions for readers of The Portrait on her website here, which will help readers engage even further with the story!
Recommendations
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story! It had wholesome aspects of suspense, romance, intrigue, and history (all of which are elements in storytelling that I am a fan of). So, I recommend this tale to readers of those genres as well as other self-published authors who would like to read more from authors like them!
