Posted on March 17, 2017
Ellen Umansky’s debut novel The Fortunate Ones traces a stolen work of art from World War II Vienna to contemporary Los Angeles. The painting is “The Bellhop,” a fictional reimagining of the real-life painter Chaim Soutine‘s portraits of bellboys and porters. “The Bellhop” is stolen from Rose’s apartment after Nazis invade Vienna. Rose’s life has been uprooted – she and her brother have been sent from Austria to England via Kindertransport.