In 1994 in Wroclaw, Poland. Artist Tadeusz Lipski confesses to a murder, claiming his crime was committed for love. He shares his cell with Miler, a man also born in Wroclaw, and while awaiting trial, they exchange memories of living in a country overwhelmed by oppression, corruption, and the legacy of German occupation. Miler’s life has revolved around the black market; he is one of the “true artists”of crime. Tadeusz’s crime has been to live the life of an artist. He found love with the beautiful Zuzanna, who seduced him as he immortalized her in his painting “The Horizontal Woman”—but Tadeusz also found deceit, political intrigue, and murder. The Horizontal Woman is a novel not only about Poland, from Hitler to Solidarity, but about love—of country, of art, and of a woman.