Queen of the Air

From Margot Fonteyn’s longest and closest friend in America, Joseph Stuhl, comes a novel about mystery, intrigue, conviction and romance from the 1930s through the end of World War II. The story, told in the refined voice of high-Victorian English, follows the life of Remo, the single child of a refugee mother, who runs from the German village of his youth to become the blacksmith’s assistant for the traveling circus. Twists of fate and his great physical beauty lead him to become the intimate assistant of The Great Adrienne—most famous aerialist of her time and legend of all time. An unknown French painter had convinced her to sit for a portrait, and the result was a masterpiece that launched his rise as the most famous painter of his time. The painting mysteriously disappears for decades, and does not turn up again until the death of its subject, Adrienne, who has lied about it, except in her will.