When Gavin Rankin, the dashing owner of Bellamy’s, London’s best restaurant in our opinion recommends something, we pay close attention.

So when Gavin told us to read THE RENOIR GIRLS, we ran out and immediately bought a copy. We were rewarded with a fantastic book of consequence, a true story of impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s most famous painting of two sisters blended with a spellbinding exploration of the rise and fall of a prominent French Jewish family from the Belle Epoque to World War II.

We could not put THE RENOIR GIRLS down. Written by Catherine Ostler who has impeccably researched this story with its extraordinary cast of characters, we were plunged back to Paris 1881 and the Cahen d’Anvers family (to whom Gavin is related), pillars of society whose circle included heads of state, generals, kings, artists, collectors, philanthropists, and the privileged gratin of the time adorned by beauty, balls, racehorses, money, couture, and romance.

Working from never-before-seen letters diaries and personal recollections, Ms. Ostler paints a shimmering portrait of a gilded world that descended into a sinister end in the duplicity and horrors of the Second World War.

THE RENOIR GIRLS is our favorite book of 2026, a compelling story that prefers to be hidden but begs to be told. And she tells this little known drama of art, war and betrayal with the skill of a great artist.