The Very Picture of You

The Very Picture of You
Isabel Wolff

Because a picture paints a thousand words.Ella has always been an artist, jotting down pictures from a young age, and now in her thirties she has made it her profession. Commissioned to capture memories, fading beauty and family moments, her sitters often reveal more about themselves than merely their outward appearance.When Ella's younger sister Chloe asks her to paint a portrait of her new fiancé Nate, Ella is reluctant. He is a brash American who Ella thinks has proposed far too fast, so the thought of spending many hours alone with him fills her with dread. But before long Ella realises there is more to Nate than meets the eye.Beautifully inter-weaving the stories of Ella's sitters – from the old lady with a wartime secret, to the handsome politician who has a confession to make – with Ella's own hunt for her real father and slow realization that she is falling in love with the wrong man, Isabel Wolff delivers a mesmerizing story that delivers a powerful emotional punch.A truly unforgettable portrait of the many aspects of love.

Isabel Wolff

The Very Picture of You

Dedication

For my parents in-law, Eva and John

Epigraph

Are we to paint what is on the face, what’s inside the

face, or what’s behind it?

Pablo Picasso

Contents

Cover (#ulink_80014fe8-c5c0-5fd1-8601-14c714514b10)

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Prologue

‘Ella…? El-la?’ My mother’s voice floats up the stairs as…

One

‘Sorry about this,’ the radio reporter, Clare, said to me…

Two

‘I will be keeping the sittings to a minimum,’ I…

Three

‘Ella?’ said Chloë over the phone a few days later.

Four

On the morning of Good Friday I prepared for my…

Five

On Saturday morning I decided to give the studio a…

Six

‘Thanks for coming with me,’ Chloë said the following Thursday…

Seven

‘Wasn’t the party fun?’ Mum said the following Saturday morning.

Eight

‘Haven’t seen you for a while,’ said the taxi driver…

Nine

I spent most of Saturday engrossed in Grace’s painting –…

Ten

I read my father’s e-mail again and again. As I…

Eleven

‘So you had a good time?’ Roy asked when I…

Epilogue

I am at the Eastcote Gallery, on the King’s Road,…

Author’s Note

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Praise

Other books by the Same Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

PROLOGUE

Richmond, 23 July 1986