What I Want You To See
Winning a scholarship to California’s most prestigious art school seems like a fairy-tale ending to Sabine Reye’s awful senior year. After losing both her mother and her home, Sabine longs for a place where she belongs.
But the cutthroat world of visual arts is nothing like what Sabine had imagined. Colin Krell, the renowned faculty member whom she had hoped would mentor her, seems to take merciless delight in tearing down her best work—and warns her that she’ll lose the merit-based award if she doesn’t improve.
Desperate and humiliated, Sabine doesn’t know where to turn. Then she meets Adam, a grad student who understands better than anyone the pressures of art school. He even helps Sabine get insight on Krell by showing her the modern master’s work in progress, a portrait that’s sold for a million dollars sight unseen.
Sabine is enthralled by the portrait; within those swirling, colorful layers of paint is the key to winning her inscrutable teacher’s approval. Krell did advise her to improve her craft by copying a painting she connects with . . . but what would he think of Sabine secretly painting her own version of his masterpiece? And what should she do when she accidentally becomes party to a crime so well plotted that no one knows about it but her?
Complex and utterly original, What I Want You to See is a gripping tale of deception, attraction, and moral ambiguity.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBNs:
9781368027557 (hardcover)
9780759555006 (paperback)
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: February, 2020
No. of pages: 384
Formats available: Hardback, ebook and audiobook, paperback
Cover design by Jaime Alloy
“A deeply satisfying novel with a high-wire ending that’s as unexpected as it is perfect. In addition to a twisting, turning plot, Sabine wrestles with thorny questions of conscience about what it means to be an artist and to make amends. With WHAT I WANT YOU TO SEE, Catherine Linka delivers intrigue, betrayal, and a feast for art lovers.”
– Mary McCoy, author of I, Claudia, Printz Honor Award
“Tense, smart, and engaging . . . WHAT I WANT YOU TO SEE is a stunning portrait of deception, artfully peeling back layers of secrets to reveal a meticulously crafted crime.”
– Elle Cosimano, author of Nearly Gone, Nearly Found, Holding Smoke, The Suffering Tree, and When We Wake.
“Meet your new favorite YA thriller. Catherine Linka’s WHAT I WANT YOU TO SEE is a smart, twisting coming of age story about art and family, loss and crime, and honesty and redemption, all set in sunny Pasadena. Absolutely riveting!”
– Kayla Cagan, author of Piper Perish and Art Boss
“What I Want You to See by Catherine Linka blew me away….it’s a page-turner for all the very best reasons, beautifully-written, and you care about the characters so much that when they make mistakes, you read feverishly, hoping things will turn out…Any artist teen will go crazy for this book… my favorite book I’ve read all year.”
– Kim Purcell, author of Trafficked and This Is Not a Love Letter
“What I Want You to See grabbed me from the start with its compelling and complex characters and art world drama. Interwoven in the narrative, Linka also beautifully brings to light the issue of college student homelessness. As the title suggests, Sabine Reyes projects an image of herself which may not be completely honest; I thoroughly enjoyed… her messy, heartbreaking and very real journey of learning to let others see who she truly is. I highly recommend.”
– Carrie Arcos author of We Are All That’s Left; Crazy Messy Beautiful; There Will Come a Time; and Out of Reach.