The Unseen Faces of Fascism Rebecca Birrell's debut novel, Venus, Vanishing , is not merely a tale of art and desire set against the backdrop of the Third Reich's rise.
It's also a scathing indictment of how history tends to erase the stories of those living on the margins.
Birrell's fictional Jewish artist, Hannah Sherman, is a composite figure drawn from the real life experiences of countless artists who were forced to flee or live in hiding during this period.