Anita de Monte Laughs Last

In 1985, Anita de Monte, a brilliant young artist poised for greatness, is found dead in New York City. Her name burns brightly—for a moment—before fading into the noise of a city quick to forget women like her. By 1998, her legacy is little more than a whisper, until Raquel, a third-year art history student at an elite college, begins to uncover her story.

Raquel is used to feeling like an outsider—one of the few students of color on College Hill, constantly pushing against invisible walls of privilege. When she begins dating a charming, well-connected older art student, her world starts to shift; doors open, conversations change. But as she dives deeper into Anita’s forgotten life, the parallels between their stories grow unsettlingly close.

Told in alternating timelines, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is both biting and beautiful—a layered meditation on ambition, erasure, and the cost of belonging. It asks, with wit and urgency, who gets to be immortalized in art—and who gets painted over.