Pieter Blaeu, a young publisher from a family of famous cartographers, meets the aged, destitute painter, Rembrandt van Rijn, on a tour of artists' studios in 1667, and is quickly enticed into his theatre of life through a strange mixture of admiration and repulsion. As Pieter delves into this shadowy world, he crosses paths with a fanciful troupe of characters, both living and dead: the painter's relatives, friends, sitters and patrons, whose stories are sometimes bawdy and humorous, at other times philosophical and macabre. Meanwhile, Rembrandt is keeping a private journal, a dog-eared black tablet where he records everything from his rules of art and life to his dramas and recipes or what he calls 'the caprices of my restless brain'. When Pieter encounters a poet named Clara whose interest in Rembrandt equals his own, a love story emerges. Together, the lovers attempt to unmask an ambitious man in pursuit of a fugitive truth, from his ascent to fame and wealth to his descent into unpopularity and poverty, seeking clues about his character...if only he weren't such a master at playing hide-and-seek. 'Miano's writing displays all the verve, erudition and originality one might expect from such a hotly tipped new talent'. - Guardian.