A wonderful, funny love story about the savage satire of London life and the art world.
A lovesick Annie McDee finds herself rummaging in a London junk shop when she happens to come across a dirty, oil painting in the shop while looking for a present for an unsuitable man. Struck by the beauty of the piece, she decides to buy it with the little money she has and heads home to make a romantic dinner for two.
Later, after her date fails to appear, she is left alone with the painting. Annie has no idea what she has just bought. The piece is, in fact, a lost eighteenth century, valuable masterpiece called: ‘The Improbability of Love’.
As a result, she finds herself drawn reluctantly into the irregular London art world, inhabited by exiled Russian oligarchs, greedy Sheikas, desperate auctioneers, and corrupt dealers – all trying to get their hands on her valuable oil painting.
Whilst investigating the painting’s past, Annie uncovers not just an illustrious list of former owners, but a whole host of some the darkest secrets of European history – and in doing so she might just learn to open up to the possibility of falling in love again.
