Published in 2025
330 pages
Dani Heywood-Lonsdale is a writer with family roots in Hawaii and the Philippines. She holds a Doctorate in Education and teaches English Literature in Oxfordshire, having previously taught in Florence and London over the past decade. Before pursuing a career in academia, she worked for a nonprofit in New York City and studied social policy and development at LSE. The Portrait Artist is her first novel, and she is an alumna of the Faber Academy.
What is this book about?
One morning in 1890, a painting wrapped in brown paper appears on the steps of the National Gallery and causes a sensation. It’s clearly by Timothy Ponden-Hall, an artist whose paintings were celebrated and debated, not just for their beauty, but for the rumours behind them: his masterpieces were believed to immortalise the souls of their subjects.
But the shadowy explorer and artist has been thought dead for the last 50 years – so what does this new portrait mean? The gallery brings in renowned art historian Solomon Oak to investigate the painting as rumours swirl through the streets of London town.
In a bid to uncover the truth, Oak is assisted by an unlikely aid: his daughter Alice. A passionate but sheltered student, Alice has worldly desires which eclipse the life she’s expected to lead. Together they discover that exposing Ponden-Hall’s legacy will prove more controversial than they could ever have imagined for their family and Victorian society.
Set between London and Oxford, The Portrait Artist is a twisting historical debut exploring race, fame and long-kept secrets.
