The Improbability of Love

WINNER OF THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION 2016
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2016
A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK

‘an ingenious meditation on the true value of art’ Daily Mail
‘A deliciously wicked satire … It’s exquisitely written, shimmering with eye-catching detail … a masterpiece’ Mail on Sunday

When lovelorn Annie McDee stumbles across a dirty painting in a junk shop while looking for a present for an unsuitable man, she has no idea what she has discovered. Soon she finds herself drawn unwillingly into the tumultuous London art world, populated by exiled Russian oligarchs, avaricious Sheikas, desperate auctioneers and unscrupulous dealers, all scheming to get their hands on her painting – a lost eighteenth-century masterpiece called ‘The Improbability of Love’.

Delving into the painting’s past, Annie will uncover not just an illustrious list of former owners, but some of the darkest secrets of European history – and in doing so she might just learn to open up to the possibility of falling in love again.

Author Biography

Hannah Rothschild is a writer and film director. Her documentary feature films have appeared on the BBC and HBO and at international film festivals. She has written film scripts for Ridley Scott and Working Title, and articles for Vanity Fair, the New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and others. Her first book, The Baroness, was published in 2012 and has been translated into six languages. She is the Chair of the National Gallery, a trustee of the Tate Gallery and Waddesdon Manor, and a Vice President of the Hay Literary Festival. The Improbability of Love, her first novel, is the joint winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2016 and is shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2016. It was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick and one of the Guardian’s Best Books of 2015. She lives in London.

hannahrothschild.com / @RothschildHan