A professor invites a colleague from the art department to his home to view a painting he has kept secret for decades in Susan Vreeland's powerful historical novel, Girl in Hyacinth Blue. The professor swears it's a Vermeer — but why exactly has he kept it hidden so long?

The reasons unfold in a gripping sequence of stories that trace ownership of the work back to Amsterdam during World War II and still further to the moment of the painting's inception.

This luminous story explores the life and many owners of an imaginary Vermeer painting, a tale that is as breathtaking as any Vermeer painting itself. As the painting moves through each owner's hands, what was long hidden quietly surfaces, illuminating poignant moments in human lives.

Vreeland’s characters remind us, through their love of the mysterious painting, how beauty transforms and why we reach for it, what lasts, and what in our lives is singular and unforgettable.