Athena (novel)
1995 novel by John Banville / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Athena is a 1995 novel by the Irish author John Banville, the third in a series that started with The Book of Evidence and continued with Ghosts.[1] These three form the "Frames" trilogy, linked by the theme of paintings.
The novel is centred around Morrow, a self-styled art expert.[2] He is asked by a businessman called Morden to authenticate a number of paintings which are old and supposedly valuable. Morrow becomes romantically involved with a woman he simply calls A. who appears to have stepped out of his canvasses.[3] The police become involved and Morden and A. abruptly disappear. Morrow is left grief stricken.[4]
The story is punctuated by several appraisals of paintings by fictitious artists.
Reviewers compared it favourably with the writing of John Fowles, William Gass, John Hawkes and Vladimir Nabokov.[5]