The Butterfly and the Violin (Hidden Masterpiece, #1) by Kristy Cambron

The Butterfly and the Violin
A mysterious painting breathes hope and beauty into the darkest corners of Auschwitz—and the loneliest hearts of Manhattan.
Manhattan art dealer Sera James watched her world crumble at the altar two years ago, and her heart is still fragile. Her desire for distraction reignites a passion for a mysterious portrait she first saw as a young girl—a painting of a young violinist with piercing blue eyes.
In her search for the painting, Sera crosses paths with William Hanover, the grandson of a wealthy California real estate mogul, who may be the key to uncovering the hidden masterpiece. Together, Sera and William slowly unravel the story behind the painting’s subject: Austrian violinist Adele Von Bron.
A darling of the Austrian aristocracy, talented violinist, and daughter to a high-ranking member of the Third Reich, Adele risks everything when she begins smuggling Jews out of Vienna. In a heartbeat, her life of prosperity and privilege dissolves into a world of starvation and barbed wire.
As Sera untangles the secrets behind the painting, she finds beauty in the most unlikely of places: in the grim camps of Auschwitz and in the inner recesses of her own troubled heart.

Learn more and purchase a copy at Kristy’s website.

About The Author

Kristy Cambron has been fascinated with the WWII era since hearing her grandfather's stories of the war. She holds an art history degree from Indiana University and received the Outstanding Art History Student Award. Kristy writes WWII and Regency era fiction and has placed first in the 2013 NTRWA Great Expectations and 2012 FCRW Beacon contests, and is a 2013 Laurie finalist. Kristy makes her home in Indiana with her husband and three football-loving sons.

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My Review:

Everyone should read this book, a fictional, but true story. The horrors of Hitler’s world, and the acceptance by many that willingly followed him, like lemmings going off a cliff. We put faces to these people, although they really could have a thousand different ones.
A memory of a painting observed by an eight-year-old girl, becomes a life passion, and we become witnesses to how it came to be. Add in a family in possession of a copy of this same painting, thought to be the original, and we have a basis of the story.
Sera James owns a Manhattan Art Gallery, and has a passion to find this picture she only glimpsed once. When her assistant finds it, or think she does, Sera heads to California and meets William Hanover III. So begins a chance romance, but it is not the main romance, there is another in this story. One that has to do with the Vienna’s Philharmonic, and the lives of compassionate and gifted performers who with God’s help eyes are opened to what is going on in their country. Vladimir and Adele are the Austrian side of this story, and what they do that lands them in Auschwitz.
We change to different time periods in this book, and you keep hoping while knowing all the while what is about to happen. Hoping you are wrong, but the time was too horrible, that even the German’s tried to destroy all of the evidence. I so enjoyed this book, and even wanted more, not to be in the prison camp, but to see the three blinks of eyelids.
You won’t go wrong with this one, and it will keep you up trying to get to the end to find a conclusion, will anyone survive? Everyone’s life is about to be changed! I gave this book the top five stars, but it is worth much more!

I received this book through Litfuse Publicity Book Tours, and was not required to give a positive review.