From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Miniaturist comes a captivating and brilliantly realized story of two young women—a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London, and a bohemian woman in 1930s Spain—and the powerful mystery that ties them together.

England, 1967. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery. Drawn into a complex web of secrets and deceptions, Odelle does not know what to believe or who she can trust, including her mesmerizing colleague, Marjorie Quick.

Spain, 1936. Olive Schloss, the daughter of a Viennese Jewish art dealer and an English heiress, follows her parents to Arazuelo, a poor, restless village on the southern coast. She grows close to Teresa, a young housekeeper, and Teresa’s half-brother, Isaac Robles, an idealistic and ambitious painter newly returned from the Barcelona salons. A dilettante buoyed by the revolutionary fervor that will soon erupt into civil war, Isaac dreams of being a painter as famous as his countryman Picasso.

Raised in poverty, these illegitimate children of the local landowner revel in exploiting the wealthy Anglo-Austrians. Insinuating themselves into the Schloss family’s lives, Teresa and Isaac help Olive conceal her artistic talents with devastating consequences that will echo into the decades to come.

Rendered in exquisite detail, The Muse is a passionate and enthralling tale of desire, ambition, and the ways in which the tides of history inevitably shape and define our lives.

杰西•波顿（Jessie Burton）

1982年生于英国。曾就读于牛津大学及伦敦大学皇家中央演讲和戏剧学院，以演员身份活跃于英国舞台、电视节目9年。

2014年，她以处女作《玩偶屋》一鸣惊人，作品被翻译为38种语言，畅销世界超100万册，国际媒体好评如潮。

她的第二部作品《打字机上的缪斯》仅英国官方销量已突破50万册。波顿受到爱情、战争、艺术等题材的启发，运用书籍、电影与广播资料，完成了这部震撼人心的小说。在小说中，波顿对梦想、人生和自我进行了深入细致的探索。

她也通过小说表达了自己对于创作的想法：“如果你真的想完成自己的作品，你必须投入更多的信念。你必须斗争，跟自己斗争。这并不容易。”