The Objects of Her Affection: A Novel - Softcover

When most people go to a museum, they focus on the art hanging on the wall.  I'm more interested in what's happening behind that wall.

As the wife of a curator, I've had the privilege of seeing first-hand how museums find, acquire, and curate works of art.  I've watched the fascinating detective work that's undertaken by curators, and the meticulous surgery performed by conservators. I've admired the diligence of the museum registrar.  I've been humbled by the generosity of museum donors.

So why would I have my heroine, Sophie--someone who bears more than a passing resemblance to myself--steal priceless objects from her husband's office at a major American art museum?  Why would I have her befriend a shady dealer, and sell the stolen goods for financial gain?  In the words of my husband, "Are you trying to get me fired?"  (I'm not.  Really.)

But this was the challenge I set for myself:  to make Sophie do something almost unforgiveable.  I wanted to see if I could get the reader to come along for the ride, relating to her problems, sympathizing with her frustrations, maybe even sharing some of her secret, guilty excitement.  I wanted to make her confront what she'd done, and fight for redemption.  And most importantly, I wanted her to come to appreciate the real value of an artist's work, and, by extension, the importance of her own professional life.

Some of this story was inspired by my own journey as a working mother.  Some of it was inspired by my behind-the-scenes access to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But most of it--the really fun stuff, anyway--is entirely fictional.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed making it up.

Sophie Porter is the last person you'd expect to be stealing Renaissance masterpieces--and that's exactly why she's so good at it.  Slipping objects out of her husband's office at the Philadelphia Museum of Art satisfies something deep inside, during a time in her life when satisfactions are few and far between.  

Selling the treasures also happens to keep their house out of foreclosure--a house that means everything to Sophie.  But the FBI is sniffing around, and Sophie is close to destroying the very life she's been working so hard to build.  She knows she should give up her thieving ways.  But she may no longer be in control.  

The Objects of Her Affection is a riveting story about the realities of motherhood, the perils of secrecy, and the art of appraising the real treasures in our lives.