In this sensual, intimate novel, prizewinning poet and bestselling author Elizabeth Rosner tells the engrossing and timely story of an artist and his model, and the moral and political implications of their relationship. Born in the shadow of postwar Germany, Danzig is a once-prominent painter who now teaches at an art institute in San Francisco. But while Danzig shares wisdom and technique with students, his own canvases remain mysteriously empty. When a compelling new model named Merav poses for his class, Danzig, unsettled by her beauty, senses that she may be the muse he has been waiting for. The Israeli-born granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, Merav is a former art student who discovered her abilities as a model while studying in Tel Aviv. To escape the danger and violence of the Middle East, she moved to California, where she found work posing for artists around the Bay Area. Now challenged by Danzig's German accent and the menace it suggests, Merav must decide how to overcome her fears. Before they can create anything new together, both artist and model are forced to examine the history they carry. Like a paintbrush in motion, Blue Nude moves back and forth through time, recounting the events that have brought Danzig and Merav together: their disparate upbringings, their creative awakenings, and their similarly painful, often catastrophic, love lives. The novel ultimately unites them in the present and, through the transcendent power of artistic expression, moves them forward to the point of reconciliation, redemption, and revival. Using words to paint the landscapes of body and soul, Elizabeth Rosner conveys the art of survival, the complexity of history, the form of exile, the shape of desire, and the color of intimacy. Blue Nude is the narrative equivalent of a masterpiece of fine art. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly A German painter and an Israeli model connect in Rosner's heartfelt but melodramatic second novel. Danzig, a 58-year-old painter who was once an up-and-coming artist, has long since traded in his creativity for a habit of seducing his models at the San Francisco art school where he teaches. As the son of a Nazi officer who brutalized his family in the aftermath of the war and drove Danzig's older sister, Margot, to suicide, the painter harbors dark memories. He meets Merav, the beautiful granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, when she substitutes as a model in his life drawing class. Merav, like Danzig, has come to America to escape--not just the legacy of the Holocaust, but also the loss of her lover in a suicide bombing. When Danzig asks her to pose at his home studio, the project presents emotional risks for both of them. As in her previous novel (The Speed of Light), Rosner presents a simple but earnest belief in the power of art to heal and reconcile. That the story leads to redemption for both Danzig and Merav won't surprise anyone, but readers may find themselves affected anyway. (May) Copyright ® Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist The Holocaust and its aftermath continue to influence Rosner's work, as she follows her lyrical debut, Speed of Light (2001), with a haunting portrait of individuals tormented by their past. Told from the point of view of three protagonists--siblings Danzig and Margot, children of a Nazi official, and Merav, an Israeli soldier and granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor--Rosner shifts from contemporary San Francisco to postwar Germany as she tantalizingly reveals each character's psychic wounds. Their physical worlds collide when Merav models for Danzig's art students. Once an acclaimed artist, Danzig hasn't produced a painting in years, his creativity unfulfilled as he relives the childhood horror of his sister's suicide. Yet there's something about Merav's ephemeral beauty and transcendental reticence that touches his soul, though Merav is reluctant to open herself to Danzig's tortured anxiety. In a restrained yet elegiacal voice, Rosner explores the power of memory and the providence of art to amplify and alleviate human suffering. Carol Haggas Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved