The Art of Vanishing

博物館裡，發生了一樁怪事……

讓・馬蒂斯（Jean Matisse）的生活日復一日，一成不變。他是傳奇畫家亨利・馬蒂斯（Henri Matisse）筆下的兒子，在畫布中被凍結於時光之中，靜靜觀察著觀眾們流連於這些大師之作——雷諾瓦、畢卡索、莫迪里亞尼……以及他父親的畫。但直到某天，克萊兒（Claire）出現在畫廊裡，一切開始改變。

她是新來的清潔員，夜復一夜地走過讓所在的畫廊，拖著地板，低聲與自己說話排解孤寂，同時抬頭仰望著那些高懸的名作。她總覺得，那位坐在角落的男子——他是在看她嗎？為什麼她越來越感覺到一股吸引力？彷彿他能看見她最真實的樣貌，甚至是最深層的秘密。等等——他剛剛是不是動了一下？

在命運一次驚人的轉折中，克萊兒發現自己竟能穿越畫框，進入讓所在的畫作世界——那是一幅充滿生機、描繪著第一次世界大戰期間法國家庭生活的綠意畫面。在這段看似不可能的戀情中，克萊兒與讓逐漸相愛。他們一同穿梭於畫廊中其他「活過來」的作品：璀璨宴會、刺激賽馬、風起雲湧的海崖——這些畫中世界任他們自由遊歷，而克萊兒似乎是唯一能進出這些畫作的外來者，擁有一項只有她能擁有的奇蹟。

但隨著內外威脅逐漸浮現，他們的幸福也面臨危機。克萊兒與讓將不得不為這份幾乎不敢奢望的愛奮戰。究竟他們非凡的連結，是否能突破現實的邊界？還是那些潛藏在幕後的力量，終將擊碎這段精心保存的夢境？

A stunningly original love story between a museum employee and the man in a masterpiece hanging on the walls—a breathtaking debut about time, art, and the enduring power of love.

“This wildly inventive, deeply moving novel blurs the line between art and those who behold it.”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

Something magical is happening inside this museum. . . .

Jean’s life is the same day in and day out. Frozen in time by his painter father, the legendary Henri Matisse, Jean observes the ebb and flow of museum guests as they take in the works of his father and other masters like Renoir, Picasso, and Modigliani. But his world takes a mesmerizing turn when Claire, a new museum employee, enters his life.

Night after night, Claire moves through the gallery where Jean’s painting hangs, mopping the floors, talking softly to herself to stem her loneliness, and gazing admiringly at the masterpieces above. The alluring man in the corner of the Matisse—is he watching her? Why does she feel a deepening pull to him, like he can see her truest self, her most profound secrets? Did he just move?

In an extraordinary twist of fate, Claire discovers she can step through the frame of Jean’s painting and into a bygone era, a lush, verdant snapshot of family life in France in the throes of the First World War. She and Jean begin a seemingly impossible affair, falling in love against the backdrop of the gallery’s other paintings come to life—glittering parties, exhilarating horse races, and windswept beach bluffs—which they can move through together and where Claire is seemingly the only outside visitor, alone in possession of this gift.

But as their happiness is threatened by challenges both inside and outside the museum, Claire and Jean find themselves in a fight to preserve the love they’ve hardly dared to dream of. Will their extraordinary connection defy the confines of reality, or will the forces conspiring against them shatter their carefully curated happiness?