The story blends fantasy with the real. Six of the main characters live a half-life, since they are portraits on canvas. They have stepped out of their frames, complete with memories and feelings from their mortal existence, and they encounter contemporary flesh-and-blood people with their own problems. This mix involves contrasting historical, social and economic differences which require adjustments in everyone's attitudes. The activity of the portraits is more like a cryonic, re-awakened consciousness rather than time travel but, unlike the humans with whom they associate, their lives are as long, or as short, as the canvas on which they are painted

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