The real-life portrait that inspired me to write this novel
The Girl From Oto is a historical novel with a contemporary twist. An American researcher, Zari Durrell, goes to Scotland for a two-year fellowship in urban studies. During a conference in Oxford, she sees a 16th-century portrait of a French noblewoman that is attributed to her ancestor, Dutch painter Cornelia Van Der See. Zari learns that a controversy in the art world has cast doubt over the true identity of the painting’s creator. With the help of a colorful cast of academics, she dives down a rabbit hole of research, trying to piece together the truth about the painting. As she digs up clues about the portrait’s origin, she finds herself tracing the steps of a young woman named Mira de Oto who lived and painted in the Pyrenees mountains during medieval times. Along the way Zari meets an intriguing Dutch man, Wil Bandstra, who joins her for a journey of discovery on the pilgrim’s route of Santiago de Compostella. During their adventure in the Pyrenees, Zari and Wil find themselves falling in love as they struggle to unveil the life of this unknown artist and ensure she finds her rightful place in history.
The town of Oto in the Pyrenees.
