THE KEEPER OF LOST ART

Lisa Flanagan narrates this historical novel with compassion. In 1942, almost 300 works of art from the Uffizi Galleries in Florence were hidden in a Tuscan villa to protect them from Nazi looting. Stella is sent to stay with her uncle in that villa, which he is overseeing for its absentee owners. There, Stella tries to find her place with relatives she's never known and to solve the mystery of her father, whom she has no memory of. Flanagan brings alive the stress, desperation, and compassion Stella feels as she and her family care for refugees they've taken in and as they keep the hidden art a secret from the Nazis who arrive and take over the villa. Flanagan handles the occasional Italian words smoothly with an appropriate accent. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2025]