London, 1991: Alex Johns, trainee art intern at the Courtauld, believes a hidden secret lies within Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas—one of the most written about paintings of all time.

Her own mother died in mysterious circumstances while trying to uncover its secrets and Alex is troubled by memories of her own encounter as a child with the girl in the painting—the Infanta Margarita—who continues to haunt her. Alex must take up her mother's work and find evidence to uncover the truths within the canvas.

A treacherous trail through the art world, the church and 17th century Spanish Court via mysterious drawings, letters and cryptic notes has Alex trying to piece together what happened in King Philip's court...

But powerful players will do anything to stop these truths coming to light.

Madrid, 1656: The Infanta Margarita senses that those around her believe the royal household is cursed.

She wonders why her father, the King, is a pale shadow of himself and why the Queen is distressed; what threatens the royal offspring? She struggles to fight for her own destiny as the forces around her seek to marry her off and send her from the home she loves.

In the tradition of Tracy Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring and A.S. Byatt's Possession, Andrea Hotere's The Vanishing Point slowly reveals the secrets in the painting that have been closely guarded for centuries.

But will Alex live to share them with the art world or is she, too, cursed?