When art historian Keira Foley is hired to authenticate a painting at a centuries-old East Suffolk manor, she hopes this is just the thing to get her career and life back on track. But from the time she arrives at Parham Hill Estate and begins working alongside rumored art thief Emory Scott, sheÕs left with far more questions than answers. Could this lost painting of Queen Victoria be a duplicate of the original Winterhalter masterpiece, and if so, who is the artist?As Keira begins to unravel the mystery behind the portrait of the queen, two women emerge from the estateÕs forgotten past. In Victorian England, talented sketch artist Elizabeth Meade is engaged to Viscount Huxley, then owner of Parham Hill. While there, master portrait artist Franz Winterhalter takes her under his wing, but ElizabethÕs real motive for being at Parham Hill has nothing to do with art. SheÕs determined to avenge her fatherÕs brutal murderÑeven if it means feigning an engagement to the very man she believes committed the crime.A century later, Amelia WoodsÑa WWII widow who has turned Parham Hill Estate and its beloved library into a boarding school for refugee childrenÑreceives military orders to house a troop of American pilots. She is determined that the children in her care remain untouched by the war, but itÕs proving difficult with officers taking up every square inch of their world . . . and one in particular vying for a space in her long shut up heart.Set in three time periodsÑthe rapid change of Victorian England, the peak of EnglandÕs home front tensions at the end of World War II, and modern dayÑThe Painted Castle unfolds a story of heartache and hope and unlocks secrets lost for generations, just waiting to be found.
