"Every artist leaves behind a shadowy retrospective exhibition of the pictures that were never painted," begins this tale of the good, the bad, and the untalented. But what do the artists present at the private viewing of the late John Crane's last paintings sense of this "shadowy retrospective"? Among those attending are Lyris, Crane's widow and a painter herself; her grandnephew Nathan, a boorish conceptual artist; Clovis, a middle-aged bookseller; and Zoe, a beautiful young filmmaker. None of them realize it, but the evening will forever alter their lives. The Artist's Widow is a novel about the nature of friendship, betrayal, courage, and cowardice.