The Forgotten Painting

The Forgotten Painting is an award-winning historical mystery novella by Gabriel Farago, a USA Today bestselling Australian author celebrated for his Jack Rogan Mysteries series. It earned the Gold Medal at the Readers Favorite 2018 International Book Awards in the Fiction Short Story/Novella category, and is also recognized as an Outstanding Novella in the 2018 IAN Book of the Year Awards.

The story begins when celebrated author and journalist Jack Rogan stumbles upon a hidden diary, setting him on an unexpected quest to honor the dying wish of a dear friend. Following a trail of cryptic clues that winds from the Australian outback to the streets of Berlin and beyond, Rogan uncovers the haunting history of a long-lost painting. Decades earlier, during the horrors of World War II, a rare work by the Impressionist master Claude Monet was stolen from a Jewish family in Warsaw at the hands of a Nazi officer, only to disappear into the shadows of history.

Joining forces with Cecilia Crawford, a sharp New York journalist, and Tristan, a gifted boy with psychic abilities, Rogan pieces together a story of sacrifice, survival, and injustice that spans generations. As the masterpiece resurfaces at a high-profile London auction house, a new mystery emerges: is the painting truly a genuine Monet, or an elaborate forgery?

Gabriel Farago's writing is deeply atmospheric and richly researched, seamlessly weaving history, art, and human emotion into a fast-paced, deeply affecting narrative. The Forgotten Painting is the perfect entry point into the Jack Rogan Mysteries universe. It proves that even a short work can carry enormous historical weight, moral depth, and page-turning suspense in equal measure.