Got one of the last rental cars but the main highway was road blocked by scores of police and fire dept at each point. It took me 5 hours from Bordeaux to Basque Country but feel lucky to have made it.

Was full on in the French wildfires en route to drop my kids off at their grandparents. It’s apocalyptic. Ash is falling and it’s impossible to breathe. Sky ranges from haze to dark stormy look. Stations closed while we were en route so we had to get off at Bordeaux, rent a car & drive through

Listen in to @WNYC.org New York Public Radio 93.9 FM or streaming Monday at noon! I’ll be live on @AllofItWNYC.bsky.social with Allison Stewart talking all things Brooklyn and summer in the city, wearing my @untappedny.bsky.social hat!

The paperback edition of The Art Spy will be out September 8th! I'm told that some publishers don't even issue a paperback anymore (shed a tear!) but The Art Spy will get one. Barnes & Nobles has a 25% off pre-order sale now and I'll be going on tour to celebrate it this fall! buff.ly/gFKfeYl

Happy one year birthday to my book The Art Spy! This video is for all the readers and fans who sent me email, posted on social, sent me snail mail, made me art!! That’s the most moving and meaningful part of releasing a book into the world—the interactions I’ve had with readers all around the world.

I'm very excited to announce that The Art Spy is longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award! Honored to be among these great titles and to be a resident of this great state!

I'm on German TV! Talking about NYC history and nickelodeons here. We filmed in an empty floor of the Woolworth Building which was very cool! Mostly, I was pitching in for my colleague Justin who was trapped abroad (he appears in the episode too). buff.ly/vUwrcEi

The Art Spy was Lenox Library's most checked out nonfiction book in 2025! This means a lot since it's one of the libraries in my area: the Berkshires, MA. I have great memories of talking to over 400 people at The Mount, Edith Wharton's house where I was married & to 200 more at Ventfort Hall!

The Art Spy is a finalist for a @LambdaLiterary.org Award for Best Lesbian Memoir/Biography! This nomination means a lot because of how deeply I researched Rose Valland's partner Joyce to bring them both to life. I spent 3 months just on that aspect & am truly touched it struck a chord with readers.

I also passed around my own book The Art Spy, as well as The Wonder City graphic novels by my friends Justin Rivers and courtneyzellart, and a graphic novel about my resistance heroine Rose Valland by Louvre historian Emmanuelle Polack.

For Read Across America Week I went to read to my daughter’s 2nd grade class. As an author I felt a responsibility to convey how fun reading & writing is. I read 3 books: Five Stories by Ellen Weinstein, The Book with No Pictures by @bjnovak.bsky.social & one on Taiwan where my parents are from

I do love a great bookstack. Great to see The Art Spy in @HarperCollins.bsky.social Women's History Month book picks!

The styling for Love Story about JFK Jr. & Carolyn Bessette is spot on. I worked at Calvin Klein in the 2000s as a fashion merchandiser. We were only allowed to use black paper clips and white Post It notes. We could only receive white flowers, preferably orchids. Black desks, chairs, hangers...

What an honor! The Art Spy is a finalist for the Marfield Prize, the National Award for Arts Writing. I’m in amazing company, including my friend Christopher Gorham, author of Matisse at War, a book I blurbed! We'll also both be at the Savannah Book Festival this weekend!

Excited to share that The Art Spy was named to the Texas Library Association's 2026 Texas Topaz Reading List! "It’s a story about courage, persistence, and how one person’s quiet actions made a lasting impact on history."

14 years ago I was cast in Steven Soderbergh's film Side Effects w/ Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta. Soderbergh wanted a cellist for a scene. I had my own trailer, hair & makeup & got to work 1 on 1 with Soderbergh! Discovered unpaid royalties today updating my SAG address!

How do you get kids these days to read? Read together & lead by example. Their self-prompted reading sesh: Charlotte: Harper's Bazaar Emma: Taking in the Picasso MoMA retrospective (she has opinions! 😂) Me: Reading about crypto crime in Japan (The Devil Takes Bitcoin) by @tokyovice.bsky.social

On this 250th anniversary of #JaneAusten's birth, here is my mom's copy of Pride & Prejudice that she gave me when I was 8. I loved it so much, I got in trouble with my 4th grade teacher for reading it under my desk! Well Mrs. F, I am now an author myself! Also don't miss Wild for Austen!

Honored to have The Art Spy make it onto @libraryjournal.bsky.social's Best Books 2025 list! buff.ly/e6z75D6

The Art Spy was named by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books of 2025! I was at the inspiring celebration yesterday where the President of NYPL passionately reminded us all why books are important: to help us empathize with ideas and worlds that are not our own.

Fun news! The Art Spy was #9 in Indigo's top 100 History Books of 2025 & one of CEO Heather Reisman's book picks earlier this year! Indigo is Canada's biggest book retailer.

Long Island friends! I'm heading back to where I grew up for 3 great book tour events this weekend! Sat 11-1pm Barnes & Noble Stony Brook book signing 4-6pm Northport Books w/ bookstore owner Jenn McAuliffe Sun 2pm Emma S. Clark Library event "Scholars & Spies" w/ Elyse Graham (Book & Dagger)

The care to which the Louvre protected its crown jewels & works of art in 1939 as WWII broke out, from my book The Art Spy. There's a lot more detail about the crown jewels that I had to cut out how one curator secretly carried them to the Banque of France in the Loire Valley. buff.ly/WE1BNNh

Did you know there were champagne vaults in the Brooklyn Bridge? My latest podcast episode for @untappedny.bsky.social is live! buff.ly/dHCxKuc

Join me at non for a book talk with The Preservation League of NYC! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Fun little thing: My photography is on display at the New York Historical in an installation about the street artist Invader! My photos are frequently licensed for books, exhibitions, etc. because I often have photos of places and artwork that no longer exist in NYC and around the world.

My book tour resumes! Here's where I'll be talking The Art Spy for the next couple of months—a lot of New England spots, as well Seattle, Detroit, Delaware, New Jersey, NYC, and Long Island. Comment/DM me if I'll see you on the road! More info here: buff.ly/gSzYXYX

2. @airmail.news made my article "The Spy Who Came in from the Burning Picassos" its lead story last week in its book report newsletter! It's the story of my biggest scoop/discovery in The Art Spy airmail.news/issues/2025-...

Returned from my annual digital/electricity detox to discover amazing news about The Art Spy! Here they are 1. It's # 5 on the bestseller list in the state of Mississippi! This in large part thanks to the enthusiasm of Lemuria Books which made The Art Spy a first edition book club read!