The Isleworth Smile Part 2

By Pen Avram

In 1911 the Mona Lisa disappeared. Two year’s later she was returned to the Louvre, but not before she had turned the art world on its head. Rumours of copies emerged, and other versions of the painting were revealed at museums in Spain, the United States, and in a Swiss bank vault; all claiming to be by the great master, Leonardo da Vinci. Kroupa and Hendrych uncover a conspiracy, which dates back to the original theft. As they get closer and closer to the truth, they find themselves caught up in a web of intrigue involving former dictators and regimes, all keen to get their hands on most famous painting in the world.

The Isleworth Smile is a two-part mystery, based on characters created by Pen Avram and combining historical fact with rumour and speculation to create a thrilling adventure that will leave readers on the edge of their seats until the very end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen Avram
• Release date: Apr 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310157998

Pen Avram

This one-time piano mechanic turned Master of Applied Science (Critical Enquiry/Social Ecology) fled to the West from the former Soviet bloc, finally finding his home in Australia. Growing up in a family touched by the horrors of the holocaust and communism, Pen Avram has spent his life studying what drives people of different faiths around the world to act the way they do. His insights now inform the mysteries investigated by the intrepid team of Kroupa and Hendrych. And Sara is a real dog, blood an bones.

Book preview

THE ISLEWORTH SMILE Part 2

A book by JJA

Based on the characters created by Pen Avram

PUBLISHED BY:

Pen Avram on Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Copyright 2015 Text-Author - JJA

Copyright 2015 ArtDesign Author - JJA

The author and the artwork designer assert the moral rights to

be identified as the author and designer of this work,

Contact: mailto:[e-mail]

Chapter 1 - Paris, 1911

It hadn’t been a good year. The Paris to Madrid air race had got off to a bad start on May 21, when pilot Andre Train’s aircraft suffered a mechanical failure during take-off. The disaster left the French Prime Minister, Ernest Monis with a broken leg, while Minister of War, Henri Berteaux, died from a head injury.

Around this time, and with France in mourning, Natalia had arrived in Paris. She’d travelled from St. Petersburg with Marc Chagall. They’d met while he’d been studying under Leon Bakst, and had been introduced by a mutual friend, Bella Rosenfeld, whom Chagall would later go on to marry.

Leaving Russia, thanks to the support of a wealthy Russian patron, Chagall arrived in Paris with Natalia, who’s own trip had been funded by the Party. She was no art lover, but she appreciated his and the other modern artists’ break with tradition. He brings form and colour to our thoughts and ideals, she proclaimed.

Chagall himself was no communist, however he’d welcomed the positive changes of the revolution. Imperial Russia had sidelined the Jewish population. As a second-class citizen he’d struggled to gain access to St. Petersburg, let alone an education. The Bolsheviks had granted Russian-Jews equal rights for the first time, and this was enough to earn them support. Converts like Chagall had no idea what was yet to come.

Natalia, meanwhile, had written for the publication Zvezda and been instrumental in the censorship breakthrough earlier that year, which had previously prevented Bolshevik contributions to the press. She’d studied French and had wanted to help the Party grow and spread its ideology. Therefore she’d agreed to travel to Paris to help set up the first Party School, much like the one that the Otzovists had established in Bologna the previous year. The Paris Party school, however, differed in that it had a liberal attitude to art and the avant-garde, and was at odds with Lenin’s views. Lenin hated modern art, but this was Paris and here the proletariat’s tastes were more refined.

Natalia loved the French capital and its revolutionary spirit. Chagall on the other hand found the city too overcrowded; its fast pace unbearable. He loved visiting its art collections however, and Natalia accompanied him from time to time.

It was on one of these visits to the Louvre, that Natalia caught Vincenzo’s eye. He worked at the museum and smiled at the pair. Chagall sensed at once the spark that ignited between the two and left them alone so they could agree on another meeting. This was followed by another and yet another, until the two of them quickly became an item.

Like Natalia,