Start gifting
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Limited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks when you make the switch!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Make the switch
Gift audiobook credit bundles
You pick the number of credits, your recipient picks the audiobooks, and your local bookstore is supported by your purchase.
Start giftingThe Portrait
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreA national bestseller from acclaimed author Iain Pears, The Portrait is a novel of suspense and a tour de force.
An art critic journeys to a remote island off Brittany to sit for a portrait painted by an old friend, a gifted but tormented artist living in self-imposed exile. The painter recalls their years of friendship, the gift of the critic's patronage, and his callous betrayals. As he struggles to capture the character of the man, as well as his image, on canvas, it becomes clear that there is much more than a portrait at stake...
Iain Pears's An Instance of the Fingerpost and The Dream of Scipio are also available from Riverhead Books.
Iain Pears is the author of the bestsellers An Instance of the Fingerpost, The Dream of Scipio, Stone’s Fall, and Arcadia, and a novella, The Portrait, as well as a series of acclaimed detective novels, a book of art history, and countless articles on artistic, financial and historical subjects. He lives in Oxford, England.
Reviews
"Mighty scary. Only an author as clever and confident as Pears could pull off this trick."—Newsweek"A stripped-down exercise in creeping dread."—Christian Science Monitor
"A shrewd and masterful raconteur...a tour de force."—The Washington Post Book World
"Weirdly haunting, the traps [Pears] sets for the critic are also traps for the reader."—Baltimore Sun
"One gutsy novelist... The suspense becomes almost unbearable."—Boston Globe
"A fascinating world of high-minded literature written on a small canvas."—Houston Chronicle
"An exquisite little gem."—Booklist, starred review
Expand reviews