This book event is through my collaboration with Rachel’s Random Resources.
No Oil Painting blog tour has a full schedule of events at the end of this post and a giveaway. Check out the other stops, pick your next visit, share, comment, and follow.
Book Details
No Oil Painting
A respectable septuagenarian steals a valuable painting and later tries to return it, with a little help from her friends.
Bored National Trust volunteer, Maureen, steals an obscure still life as a giant up-yours to all those whoāve discounted her. The novice fine art thief is rumbled by some fellow room guides, but snitches get stitches, camaraderie wins out and instead of grassing her up, they decide to help.
Often written off as an insipid old fart, Maureen has a darker side, challenging ingrained ideas of how senior citizens should behave. Her new set of friends make her feel alive again. No longer quite so invisible, can this unlikely pensioner gang return the now infamous painting without being caught by the Feds?
I wrote this after hearing a radio interview in which an art detective revealed how a stolen Titian was dumped at a bus stop outside Richmond station. In a red, white and blue plastic bag! I just couldnāt shake such a compelling image. I volunteered at Ham House for many years, and my passion for this Jacobean gem, together with the volunteersā indomitable spirit, gave birth to my unlikely anti-hero.
With over five million members, the National Trust is a huge British institution. Yet, next to nothing has been written about it in terms of contemporary fiction. Until now.
While No Oil Painting explores themes of insignificance and loneliness in older age, particularly for women, it is mainly intended to entertain and offer a small haven in dark, uncertain times.
Purchase Links
UK Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi-ebook/dp/B0FNLWTCBS/
UK Paperback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Oil-Painting-Genevieve-Marenghi/dp/1917224125/
US Paperback: https://amzn.to/48mYNMG
US Kindle: https://amzn.to/4phqM6o
Author Bio
With a BA in English and Philosophy, Genevieve worked for eleven years at the Weekend FT, where she helped create and launch How To Spend It magazine.
She volunteered for years as a National Trust guide at Ham House. This became the setting for her debut art heist novel, No Oil Painting, which was listed for the inaugural Womenās Prize Trust and Curtis Brown Discoveries, and was published by Burton Mayers Books on 10th October 2025.
Her writing uses dark humour to probe the difference between our perception of people and their true selves. The gulf between what is said and what is meant. She considers people watching an essential skill for any writer; overheard snippets of conversation or a bonkers exchange at a bus stop are like gold nuggets. Sheās been known to follow people to catch the end of a juicy conversation or argument. Women aged over fifty are essentially invisible anyhow and she views this as a kind of superpower.
Unlike her protagonist Maureen, she hasnāt used this to commit art theft. Yet.
Social Media Links
https://www.instagram.com/genevievemarenghi
https://www.threads.com/@genevievemarenghi
Giveaway
Giveaway to Win National Trust chocolate, and a Ham House towel and fridge magnet (Open to UK Only)
*Terms and Conditions āUK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachelās Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winnersā information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachelās Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
Ā Win National Trust chocolate, and a Ham House towel and fridge magnet (Open to UK Only)
