I Won't Part with Van Gogh

For theater researcher Nadia Cherkashina, dark days have arrived — the magazine "Podmostki," where she worked, was slowly dying. How to make a living? Where to find a new job? Unfortunately, Nadia urgently needed a large sum of money: a... friend left her a painting by Van Gogh as a gift before her death — an unknown version of "The Potato Eaters." But Nadia immediately faced problems! An Interpol agent who appeared before Cherkashina stated: the painting is a forgery and, moreover, stolen, and Nadia must return it to its previous owner. After some thought, the girl decided to buy back the painting, using money from... her ex-husband, the famous actor Alexander Kholmogorov. However, this meant she would have to marry him again, even though after his betrayal, Nadia no longer believed in his suddenly rekindled passion. What she didn't know was that Alexander was just pretending to be in love, and the stakes for this role were very high — his own life. Kholmogorov is being blackmailed, forced to retrieve the Van Gogh painting from his ex-wife at any cost... Tatiana Ustinova recommends: "Ostrovskaia plays with lives, shuffles the characters, forces them to make unexpected and strange moves, while the reader watches with bated breath, wondering: will it work, won't it work, will they escape, won't they escape!.. The plot often takes a different turn and races forward at full speed. It's almost impossible, but she manages to stay on these twists!.. And one really wants the heroes to succeed!.. And the finale! It is always spectacular in every sense."