In her vividly fashioned debut novel The Optickal Illusion, Rachel Halliburton draws from the sordid details of a genuine scandal that deceived the British Royal Academy to deliver a stirring tale on the elusive goal of achieving artistic renown. It is 1797 and in Georgian London, nothing is certain anymore: The future of the monarchy is in question, the city is aflame with conspiracies, and the French could invade any day. Amidst...