Nom de Plume

Benjamin Ziskind is lonely and depressed. He has an unfulfilling job as a question writer for a TV show, his wife has just left him, and his twin sister is now pregnant. With nothing to lose, it’s no suprise that when he goes to a Chagall exhibition and sees the painting that was stolen from his family, he is enraged. And he does what any normal person would do: Take it off the wall, tuck it under his arm, and go home.

But rather than being the end of the story, this scene is just the beginning. As Ben and his sister Sara try to figure out whether the original is actually a forgery (and Sara creates a forgery of her own), they are forced to sift through the history of the painting — both their own, and their parents. And these stories within stories are just amazing, a combination of history, mythology, and folklore. Highly, highly recommend.