“This irresistible book recounts its preposterous yet authentic tale with meticulous detail and bemused detachment. Warning: Don’t read too close to bedtime. “Provenance” is impossible to put down...”
—The Christian Science Monitor
"elegantly recounted ... Salisbury and Sujo evoke with flair the plush art world and its penetration by the seductive Drewe as well as the other players in this fascinating art drama."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"gripping narrative ... the enthralling tale forces readers to rethink the question of what makes art valuable."
—Kirkus Reviews
There’s something delicious about stories of duping the elite and
reducing the passion for beauty to a sleazy con game. Salisbury and Sujo couldn’t have chosen a more thrilling example... A colorful cast and nimble detection make for a thoroughly engrossing tale of warped creativity and monstrous hubris.
— Booklist
“...a Faustian tale,”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“It is nonfiction, but its hair-raising investigative reporting reads like a thriller that just might knock you right out of your beach chair.”
—Bookpage.com
“The authors portray the deceptive glamour and romance of art forgery with the detailed wit and well-paced narrative of a suspense thriller.”
—Daily Dose Pick, Flavorwire.com
“Provenance would make a great film, but even a great film would have a hard time equaling the layers of depth and tone provided by Salisbury and Sujo’s book. Read it for the art history, read it for the psychology, but do read it.”
—Chronogram
“...well-crafted tale... [British conman] Drewe, for all his odious ambitions, is ingenious, persuasive, even brilliant. As I was pulled deeper into his deceptions, I couldn't help admiring this creep.”
—Washington Post
Read more
Laney Salisbury
Home Events About the Author Contact"A stirring tale of survival, thanks to man's best friend . . . reflects a
transcendent understanding and impeccable research."
• Seattle Times
“A classic tale of man against nature enacted against the heartbreaking ice
fields of Jack London’s White Silence.”
• New York Times Book Review
Pathways’ Bridge to Caring 2013 features Laney Salisbury, best-selling author of
Provenance, “the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far reaching and elaborate
deceptions in art history.”
Laney began her career as a journalist following a sojourn in India that ignited her passion for
writing. A stint in Africa as a freelance journalist led her to enroll in Columbia University’s
Graduate School of Journalism. After an internship in the Middle East, Laney returned to New
York.
While working for Reuters, she met Aly Sujo, the man who would become her writing partner
and husband. He encouraged Laney to follow her interest: exploring journalistic stories of
complexity and subtlety. Her first book was The Cruelest Miles: the Heroic Story of Dogs and
Men in a Race Against an Epidemic, about a diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska in 1925,
which Laney wrote with her cousin Gay Salisbury.
In their book Provenance, Aly and Laney traced the astonishing story of how con man John
Drewe forever changed the art world. Aly passed away just as the manuscript for Provenance
was finished. The book received wide acclaim and was included on Oprah’s Summer Reading
List for 2009
Afternoon bridge, dinner with the author, or wine & hors d’oeuvres reception options available,
followed by the program. Join us for an evening to remember.