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'A beautiful, beguiling and multi-layered novel, Fugitive Blue tells the story of a young art conservator and her work on an unusual panel painting in striking ultramarine. As she restores the fragile artwork, she begins to speculate on its provenance - its controversial creation in Renaissance Venice and reappearance three hundred years later during a young nobleman's Grand Tour of Europe, passing through nineteenth-century Paris before its eventual arrival in Australia as one of the scarce possessions of a post-war Greek migrant family.
'Threaded through the painting's progress is the story of the young conservator's own life in contemporary Melbourne, her developing passion for her work and the demise of her relationship with an actor named Mark.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
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Dedication: Dedicated with love to Cheryl Thomas.
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Epigraph: 'Fugitive pigment: a pigment that is particularly susceptible to changing over time.' - Looking at Paintings : a guide to Technical Terms.
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Epigraph: 'But as we readily follow an agreeable object that flies from us, so we love to contemplate blue, not because it advances to us, but because it draws us after it.' - Goethe, Theory of Colours.
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Epigraph: 'It may be that your diligent - reconstitution - like the restoration of old Frescoes with new colours - is our way to the Truth - a discreet patching.' A.S. Byatt, Possession.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Dyslexic edition.
- Large print.
Works about this Work
-
Novelist Claire Thomas
2021
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 20-26 February 2021;'In 2008, Australian author Claire Thomas published her acclaimed debut novel Fugitive Blue. Spanning five centuries, the narrative traces the fate of a Renaissance painting, the only legacy of an inexperienced artist doomed to obscurity.' (Introduction)
-
This Year's Work in Fiction 2008-2009
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , July vol. 54 no. 1 2009; (p. 51-64)
— Review of The Pages 2008 single work novel ; The Lieutenant 2008 single work novel ; The Spare Room 2008 single work novel ; The Anatomy of Wings 2006 single work novel ; Boy On A Wire 2009 single work novel ; The Sinkings 2008 single work novel ; Bird 2008 single work novel ; One Foot Wrong 2008 single work novel ; Avenue of Eternal Peace 1989 single work novel ; Life in Seven Mistakes 2008 single work novel ; The Steele Diaries 2008 single work novel ; Butterfly 2009 single work novel ; Dissection 2007 single work novel ; Fugitive Blue 2008 single work novel ; Sweet 2008 single work novel ; The Virtuoso 2009 single work novel ; Ransom 2009 single work novel ; The Good Parents 2008 single work novel ; Vertigo : A Pastoral 2008 single work novella ; The Boat 2008 selected work short story ; New Australian Stories 2009 anthology short story ; The Slap 2008 single work novel -
First Flights of Fancy
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 29 November 2008; (p. 23)
— Review of Turtle 2008 single work novel ; Cooee : A Novel 2008 single work novel ; The Twelfth Fish 2008 single work novel ; Fugitive Blue 2008 single work novel -
In Short : Fiction
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 4-5 October 2008; (p. 34)
— Review of Fugitive Blue 2008 single work novel -
Promise Diffused in Tale of a Lovely Fugitive
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 6 September 2008; (p. 12)
— Review of Fugitive Blue 2008 single work novel
-
[Review] Fugitive Blue
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , July vol. 88 no. 1 2008; (p. 41)
— Review of Fugitive Blue 2008 single work novel -
Promise Diffused in Tale of a Lovely Fugitive
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 6 September 2008; (p. 12)
— Review of Fugitive Blue 2008 single work novel -
In Short : Fiction
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 4-5 October 2008; (p. 34)
— Review of Fugitive Blue 2008 single work novel -
First Flights of Fancy
2008
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 29 November 2008; (p. 23)
— Review of Turtle 2008 single work novel ; Cooee : A Novel 2008 single work novel ; The Twelfth Fish 2008 single work novel ; Fugitive Blue 2008 single work novel -
This Year's Work in Fiction 2008-2009
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , July vol. 54 no. 1 2009; (p. 51-64)
— Review of The Pages 2008 single work novel ; The Lieutenant 2008 single work novel ; The Spare Room 2008 single work novel ; The Anatomy of Wings 2006 single work novel ; Boy On A Wire 2009 single work novel ; The Sinkings 2008 single work novel ; Bird 2008 single work novel ; One Foot Wrong 2008 single work novel ; Avenue of Eternal Peace 1989 single work novel ; Life in Seven Mistakes 2008 single work novel ; The Steele Diaries 2008 single work novel ; Butterfly 2009 single work novel ; Dissection 2007 single work novel ; Fugitive Blue 2008 single work novel ; Sweet 2008 single work novel ; The Virtuoso 2009 single work novel ; Ransom 2009 single work novel ; The Good Parents 2008 single work novel ; Vertigo : A Pastoral 2008 single work novella ; The Boat 2008 selected work short story ; New Australian Stories 2009 anthology short story ; The Slap 2008 single work novel -
Novelist Claire Thomas
2021
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 20-26 February 2021;'In 2008, Australian author Claire Thomas published her acclaimed debut novel Fugitive Blue. Spanning five centuries, the narrative traces the fate of a Renaissance painting, the only legacy of an inexperienced artist doomed to obscurity.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2009 winner Kibble Literary Awards — Nita May Dobbie Award
- 2009 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
- Melbourne, Victoria,
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Venice,
cItaly,cWestern Europe, Europe,
