Artifice by Sharon Cameron

Artifice by Sharon Cameron. Scholastic Press, 2023. 9781338813951






Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 4



Format: ARC (publication date 11/7/23)



Genre: Historical fiction



What did you like about the book?  Isa lives with her father in their former art gallery, once a lively meeting place for the avant garde in Amsterdam. But her mother’s death and the Nazi occupation have locked the doors of Gallery de Smit and her father seems more and more distant. Although he’s a talented painter, his greatest works are homages to famous artists, or as some would call them, forgeries, although he never tries to pass them off as the real thing. Meanwhile Isa’s best friend Truus, a member of the Dutch underground, has immersed herself in a desperate attempt to save Jewish babies as the German forces finalize their plans for mass deportation. Isa’s situation becomes even more dire when Michel turns up at her house in a Nazi uniform. A former friend of the family with a background in art, he’s been conscripted into the Austrian army but plans to defect and wants her help. A plan starts to form: could the de Smit versions of famous paintings help fund the underground’s rescue mission? Isa and Michel move into dangerous circles as they experiment with aging the masterful but new-looking paintings and making contacts high up within the Nazi command. Cameron’s metaphorical contrasts between what’s real and fake in art and who’s telling the truth in a landscape of full spies, collaborators, and forgers makes for a twisty thriller, with plenty of action.  Back matter includes descriptions of the actual Dutch forgers and underground rescuers, who did not intersect in real life.  



By making Isa an artist, Cameron gives us a keen eye with which to observe occupied Amsterdam. Each character comes to life with vivid descriptions and Isa frequently uses color as a means to illustrate her feelings. She studies her friends, family, and even enemies and names them, as though she is giving a title to a painting. Readers interested in the creative process will enjoy the passages about materials, brush strokes, and technique. The story also asks some big, interesting questions about art: why do we make it? What is it worth, especially in wartime, when it may provide inspiration? How can we balance its preservation against the value of human life? 



Anything you didn’t like about it? I did find the subterfuge around the art and the long final chase scene (which makes up the last third of the book) confusing. As Isa and Michel got deeper into their course of action, the switchbacks lost me. Some last minute reveals about auxiliary characters contributed to the theme of artifice, but also felt rushed. 



To whom would you recommend this book?  Teen readers who look for stories set during World War II will enjoy this book. I loved Cameron’s Bluebird , which included a very solid mystery to pull the story together, so fans of that book may be interested in Artifice. Also recommended for students interested in Ann Frank or who like historical fiction by Ruta Sepetys and Elizabeth Wein. 



Who should buy this book? Middle and high school libraries, public libraries



Where would you shelve it? YA fiction, historical fiction if you genre-fy



Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No



Reviewer: Susan Harari, Keefe Library, Boston Latin School, Boston, MA



Date of review: October 1, 2023