In the Full Light of the Sun
CLARE CLARK
(VIRAGO, 432 PP, £16.99)
Tablet bookshop price £15.29 • Tel 020 7799 4064

During the brief and intensely ­creative period of Weimar Germany, a curious scandal arose concerning a cache of fake Van Gogh paintings. Thirty-three previously unknown works, property of an anonymous Russian, were sold to avid collectors and museums across Europe. The episode ended in a court case in 1932 where Otto Wacker, a young art dealer, was found guilty of fraud and of having hoodwinked many leading experts of the day.

Clare Clark has taken this case as inspiration for the latest of her versatile and atmospheric historical novels. The stories of three people involved – Julius, a middle-aged art expert, Emmeline, a sexually fluid student, and Frank, a Jewish lawyer – are told against the background of mounting political tension in Berlin as the Nazi Party rises to power.