After surviving a bombing at an art museum that kills his mother, 13-year-old Theodore Decker clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, captivating painting. This single object propels him on an odyssey of grief and guilt, reinvention and redemption, taking him from the drawing rooms of New York to the criminal underworld. Donna Tartt's masterpiece is a profound story of loss and obsession, exploring the transcendent power of art and the complex search for identity in a chaotic world.