Art history in a novel, a touch of science fiction, a terrace door dividing worlds, mysteries galore, investigations, a journey from New York to Paris to Antibes, 1925 to 2051. 

Artistic themes rarely appear in science fiction, and science fiction rarely turns to art. Beatrix Koch combines these themes elegantly, and achieves from the very beginning of her novel what few writers can do: surprise and intrigue the reader, wondering how this story will develop. 

Short synopsis of the novel

In the not-so-distant future, in the 2050s, when electric cars glide silently past us, when cruise missiles fly between Earth and Mars, when artificial intelligence surrounds us like air - then everything that is classic, old and precious will become even more precious and almost unattainable.

A secret legacy, the so-called Picasso legend, has long captured the imagination of art collectors, and it was the year 2050 that finally brought the long-awaited discovery. Boris Latsky, inventor and tech mogul billionaire, is not content with what he already owns.

He needs more. In other words, he wants what is hard to come by, even for him: the original works of the twentieth-century princes of painting. The art-loving and flamboyant scholar is dedicating one of his latest discoveries to this goal. If there are no original paintings in the present, Boris wants to get them from the past.

Not content with less, he wants to reveal the Picasso legend himself. After all, what is the point of all that accumulated knowledge if it is not used for something exciting and adventurous? Boris set out to solve the mystery of time travel. He didn't want to travel into the future, but into the past. And once he set about the task, he solved it: he found a way to travel back in time.

He visited Picasso, the artist he most admired, in Paris in 1924.

Boris has managed to convince Picasso to make a special deal: Picasso will create a future legacy (the Picasso legend that everyone will be researching), entrust it to Boris and in return he will get all the information Boris gives him: about the future, about 21st century art, about technique.

Picasso and Boris agree to meet in Antibes in a year's time, where Picasso will spend a month painting the paintings, which Boris will then store in the same place.

Exactly one year later, Picasso arrives in Antibes. Boris is not waiting for him alone, but in the company of his pretty ex-girlfriend, art historian Marilyn Hendrickson. At first, everything seems to be going according to plan, but suddenly control is out of Boris's hands and the acquisition of the estate is in jeopardy. He must act, and act fast.

What does Picasso do with knowledge from the future and its muse? What do his time-travelling sci-fi heroes ask for in return? What complications arise when emotions are stirred up? Can secrets stolen by memory erasure be revealed?

The answer to all these questions is given in Beatrix Koch's fascinatingly intellectual story, which draws Picasso with fictional means, but still feels real, and uses a serious knowledge of art history.