The Girl in the Painting is a historical fiction novel by best-selling Australian author, Téa Cooper. In Maitland Town in 1913, Jane Piper is still counting her blessings that Michael and Elizabeth Quinn chose her from the orphanage. Not to adopt, but to further her education and realise an undreamt-of career as an accountant. In her first interview, she told Michael: “I like numbers, sir. See, they don’t lie, sir. Not like people. There’s only right or wrong, no in-betweens” and that still holds true.

But one day, at the Technical College with Elizabeth to view an exhibition, her benefactor takes a turn. What can have reduced this unfailingly poised lady to a gibbering mess? Aunt Elizabeth wants to ignore the whole episode, to dismiss it, but Jane can’t let it go. Especially when it happens again. She will use her deductive powers to learn what has affected her beloved patroness so.

Fifty years earlier, a sweet blue-eyed four-year-old girl slipped her hand into young Michael Ó’Cuinn’s as they boarded a ship for their assisted passage to join parents Michael and Aileen Quinn in Sydney. The news that greeted them on arrival was a shock, however, and Michael had to leave Elizabeth with the Camerons while he sorted out a place to safely raise a child: the goldfields at Hill End wouldn’t fit the bill, but that’s where his Da was.

Several narrators tell the story over two timelines, and Cooper easily captures the era and the setting. Her characters are interesting and engaging and it’s utterly impossible not to fall in love with little Jane from the first chapter. Cooper gives the reader lots of historical tidbits mingled with a good dose of intrigue and a hint of romance, and wraps it all in wonderfully evocative prose. Marvellous Australian historical fiction!
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley, Better Reading Preview and Harlequin Australia