by Claire ThomasAllen & Unwin
The narrator of Fugitive Blue is a young art conservator in Melbourne who has been entrusted with the restoration of an unusual panel painted in ultramarine. As she tries to investigate the provenance of the painting, which has arrived in Australia with an post-war Greek migrant family, she is drawn into the history of the painting itself. The creation of the painting in Renaissance Venice was itself controversial; ultramarine was one of the most expensive pigments used by master painters and was never allowed to fall into inexperienced hands. Threaded through the novel is a parallel story which follows the conservator's developing obsession with her task and the collapse of her relationship with a young actor. Claire Thomas' novel is alive with references to art and the history of art; she looks at the role of women in art and the methods of the old masters. In a relatively short novel she has created a work of depth, with writing which brings Renaissance Venice to life and which also details the art of the conservation world of today. With a lightness of touch and beautiful writing Fugitive Blue is an exceptional first novel.
by Chris
