Were the Gallery’s treasures gifts or loans? Was Lord Beaverbrook careless or devious? In this national bestseller, Jacques Poitras sifts through the personal correspondence, takes stock of the witnesses and testimony, and interviews the combatants in a bitter legal battle that rocked the art world on both sides of the Atlantic. Deftly connecting the pieces of this historic jigsaw puzzle, he tells a fascinating tale peopled with an arresting cast of characters — from the self-proclaimed “master propagandist” to the present-day heirs of the Beaverbrook legacy.
“Riveting.”
– Manchester Guardian

“Take a cantankerous patriarch, throw in some very famous paintings and a family at war — and you have the ingredients of a gripping thriller. In Jacques Poitras’s skillful hands they become something more: a wise meditation on a friendship that went very wrong.”
– The Globe and Mail

“A journalistic tour-de-force.”
– BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction

“Jacques Poitras has written a delicious story about the battle for Lord Beaverbrook’s paintings. He has used a brilliant cast of characters — a mix of canny homegrown New Brunswickers and powerful British aristocrats — to pull together an important work of social and political history. Yes, this is a big, important book, but it’s also a helluva lot of fun to read.”