A birthday present from Emma, this novel travelled out to Walton and back again before I started it, and it proved so good that it only lasted 4 days....

Shuttling between mid-17th century life of down on his luck portrait painter van Rijn (Rembrandt), and 21st century girl Amy Dale, this semi-historical novel comes with a Changing Rooms slant, and a smidgeon of Joanna Trollope thrown in for good measure.

It reminded me of Michael Frayn's Headlong (which I enjoyed), and there is a hint of Philippa Gregory here too....

Although the storyline suggests that it forms part of the current trend in novels about Dutch art, as far as I can tell, neither Deborah Moggach's Tulip Fever, nor Tracy Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring, are set partly in modern day Hull!