Red: A Haida Manga

Finished April 6

Red: A Haida Manga told and illustrated by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

This creative book founded a new art form, combining traditional manga with Haida imagery. The story is a traditional Haida Gwaii folktale from the oral tradition. Red is an orphaned leader, a man blinded by revenge, leading to a tragic situation. 

When he was young, raiders attacked his village. Red escaped, but his sister Jaada did not. Red is angry and wants to exact revenge on the men who kidnapped his sister. He wants to find her and save her. But his anger doesn't allow for the feelings of anyone else affected by the situation, not his sister, not his people, no one. 

The art here is in full colour and hand-painted. Taken as a whole the panels create a Haida formline image thirteen feet long. A miniaturized version of this image is shown on the inside cover of the book. Really understanding this work and the art that depicts the story takes time to reflect, to think, to learn about the culture. The form is a key part of the story and neither can stand alone. 

Moving and thought-provoking. 

The Doorman

Finished October 25

The Doorman by Chris Pavone

This novel is a slow build, giving background on the three main characters: the doorman of the Bohemia, a historical luxury apartment building in Manhattan, Chicky Diaz, a widower with two adult daughters, who is still trying to pay off his late wife's medical bills; Emily Longworth, who lives in the penthouse suite at the Bohemia with her husband and two young children and who is facing recent revelations about the sources of her despised husband's income and questioning what she is willing to live with; and Julian Sonnenberg, an art dealer who lives on a lower floor with his wife and teenage daughter, and who is facing both a career and a personal crisis. 

On a larger level, a Black man has recently been killed by the police, resulting in demonstrations and outbursts of violence. Most of the staff of the building are black and are unsettled by the news. 

With Chicky's personal situation facing increasing pressure, along with the wider unease in the city, he opts to bring a gun he has just purchased along to his night shift at the building. 

Emily and her husband Whit, and Julien and his wife Jen are both at an art awards dinner. Emily is active in the arts world, both as a buyer and as a philanthropist. Julien and his business partner Ellington, a black man, have sold pieces to the Longworths. 

There has been information leaked recently about Whit Longworth's business activities and there have been protestors at the building he works at. He is considering his options. 

All three of the main characters, as well as some others, have secrets they'd rather not have widely known. They also have people who would relish in their bad luck. 

Both Emily and Julien have lived at the Bohemia for a while, Julien longer than Emily. Chicky has worked there for several decades. They have people they trust and people they don't. 

I really enjoyed this novel, as I have other of Pavone's books, both the plot and the characters. A great suspense novel with some unexpected situations. 

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

Finished June 8

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss

I always enjoy this author's books, she has a nice way of drawing you in and making you care about her characters. Here the main character is Elinor (Nory) Noel, who runs a secondhand bookshop in London. She comes from a working class family, with her parents running a greenhouse. She was accepted as a scholarship student at a prestigious boarding school and made friends with a group of kids there. She has kept loosely in touch with most of them. Two of them are now getting married and have proposed a reunion in the days leading up to the wedding, at the manor house (now inn) that backs onto the school property. They aren't far from Nory's parents' home and she plans to visit them while she's there.

A few years ago, one of the friend group died, and it brought the group together in grief at the time. Several of them questioned the way their life was going, and Nory was among them. She didn't enjoy her work, and that is when she determined to open the business she runs now. She is much happier and has one close friend from the school group, Ameerah, and is also friends with her one employee, Andrew. 

Nory is looking forward to the reunion in some ways, but not so much in others. She had a night with one of the former school friends, Guy, years ago, but he hadn't told her that he was married, and neither had the friends that were aware of it. She is determined to avoid him as much as possible. On the first night there she goes out into the gardens, which she knows fairly well from childhood, to avoid him and ends up getting startled by the head gardener Isaac, who father used to head the gardens. 

As the two get to know each other, they find a lot of things in common, but there is also pressure from someone close to her against her choice, and a secret Isaac has that complicates things. 

The friends are an interesting bunch, all from wealthy backgrounds except Nory, and some of them are definitely out of touch with the real world. It's not necessarily because they don't care, but their lifestyle just hasn't exposed them to the awareness of other lives. Nory is someone who is sure of herself, but less sure of how others feel about her. A fun read. 

A Pocket Guide to the Unheralded Artists of BC Series

Finished February 24

A Pocket Guide to the Unheralded Artists of BC Series: The Life and Art of Jack Akroyd, George Fertig, Mary Filer, Jack Hardman, Edythe Hembroff-Schleicher, Leroy Jenson, David Marshall, Frank Molnar, Arthur Pitts, Mildred Valley Thornton, Ina D.D. Uhthoff, Harry Webb, and Jessie Webb edited by Mona Fertig, with Introduction by Marsha Lederman

This small guide has a lot of information packed into it. The editor Mona Fertig began her project of creating a series of art books about lesser known artists after the death of her father George. She started her own publishing company when she couldn't find a publisher willing to take on the task. Except for Frank Molnar, all of the artists had passed away when she began the series, which covers artists working between 1900 and the 1960s. 

For each artists there is a biography and overview of their work, a portrait photograph, and several pictures of their art. At the front and back of the book are pictures of the artists in their studios. There is also a list of what public places one can find art by them. Besides going to these places, readers interested in more can go to the longer books Mona produced on the individual artists. 

I learned about artists I hadn't been aware of before, and appreciate this work she did to bring them to us. 

All the Beauty in the World

Finished February 2

All the Beauty in the World: A Museum Guard's Adventures in Life, Loss and Art by Patrick Bringley, illustrated by Maya McMahon

This memoir is both fascinating and informative. The author left a job at the New Yorker magazine after the death of his older brother Tom, and applied to be a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He worked their for ten years, during which time he worked through his grief, made friends, learned about art, watched people, and learned to be present in his life. 

He includes a plan of the museum's public spaces, and structures his book around them as he works in different sections of the building, and even in one of the satellite buildings the museum has. 

He talks about the art, and lists the art he refers to at the back of the book. He doesn't include pictures of the art, but there are drawings that relate to his words, done by illustrator, Maya McMahon. These drawings give a sense of the art that intrigues. 

Patrick's words are sometimes emotional, and centered on his work at the museum. There are a few references to his family beyond Tom, but it is the art that we see him engaging with, and his fellow guards as they hand off from one position to another, share work, and share experiences. They are from many cultural backgrounds, and this comes into his story as well. 

This was a book I received through a subscription from English bookstore Mr. B's Emporium, and I loved it. 

The Lost Ticket

Finished June 21

The Lost Ticket by Freya Sampson

This charming novel begins with a scene from 1962 and an encounter on a London bus between Frank, a young man and an unnamed female art student. She gives him a phone number, written on her bus ticket, and he gives her the book he's been struggling to get into, and they agree to meet later that week. But when he gets home, he finds he's lost the ticket, and they never meet.

The story then jumps to the present, in spring 2022, with Libby Nichols, who has come to London to stay with her older married sister Rebecca getting on the 88 bus in London. She encounters an older man, Frank, who is struck by her red hair, and they have a conversation, where he encourages her to return to the art she used to love. 

Libby tells her story to Rebecca, and thus to us, that her boyfriend of eight years took her to a fancy restaurant to break up with her and take some time apart. Libby agreed to move out for a while to give him time to figure out what he wanted, and she's ended up here. Rebecca's nanny has had to go home suddenly to take care of a family member, and Libby agrees to look after Hector, her sister's son while she's staying there. 

Libby tries doing art on the bus, and finds herself angrily accosted by her chosen subject, and when she meets Frank again, she finds out about the girl he's been searching for for years, and how she changed his life. Libby decides to help him try to find this woman, and begins a social media and flyer campaign to put the story out. As she does, she finds herself making new friends, and thinking harder about what she wants in her life. But she also discovers that some things can't be planned and have to be dealt with as they happen. 

This is a feel-good novel of relationships, families, and chance encounters that are life-changing. A great read. 

Ms. Demeanor

Finished April 14

Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman

This fun novel is set in New York City. Jane Morgan is a lawyer with a large firm. One day she meets an intern from her firm at the market and the two go back to her place. They hang out on the roof and get a bit frisky. Unfortunately for Jane, a woman at a neighbouring building calls the police to complain, and they end up being charged with public nudity. In court, the man is given a small fine, and Jane is given a fine, six months home confinement and has her license suspended. She is angry, embarrassed, and devastated. even more so when no one at her firm contacts her to offer support. 

Her support comes from her twin sister Jackleen, a dermatologist. She gives Jane money for groceries and encourages her to make cooking videos, trying to tie in to health for her own practice. Jane had often made meals when they were growing up and enjoys experimenting, especially when the annotated cookbook of an deceased relative makes its way into her hands. She finds herself investigating other old cookbooks, and focusing on both comfort food and odd, yet simple dishes from the past. 

When one of the doormen in her building lets her know there is someone else on home confinement in the building who orders in all his meals, she decides to reach out by hand delivering a meal to his apartment. 

Perry Salisbury worked as an art handler for a prestigious auction house when he made an impulsive and stupid decision that resulted in his current circumstance. He isn't hurting for money, and ends up making a contract with Jane to deliver a few meals each week to his place. As their business relationship develops into a friendship, Perry makes a wild suggestion of his own, and Jane finds herself agreeing. 

This is a fun and lighthearted read about two people who made impulsive decisions that resulted in big setbacks in each of their lives, and they now have to find a way to evaluate how they move forward. Jane has to apply to get her license reinstated and find a new position if she wants to continue as a lawyer. Perry has to restart his career in the art world with a big stigma if he wants to do what he is both good at and enjoys. I liked both characters, particularly Jane's sense of humour. A fun read. 

A World of Curiosities

Finished February 14

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny

I read this just after her previous one, and while good it wasn't as good in my view. This book is more violent and more personal in a different sense. It opens with a graduation, one that is a happy occasion for most, but also has elements of past violence. The graduation is at the cole Polytechnic in Montreal, at which there is a tribute to the women killed in 1989. One of the students graduating did not actually attend the school, but took the courses from her prison cell. Her story takes readers back to the first meeting between Gamache and Jean-Guy Bouvier, a meeting that took place during a murder investigation in a small northern Quebec town. Another student receiving special honours has a connection with Three Pines, as she is Myrna's niece. 

It also takes Gamache back into another criminal connection from his past, a serial killer that he encountered with a remarkable ability to get into people's heads and manipulate them. 

In Three Pines, there are also changes. After many years without a leader for their small church they have one, one who came to religion later in life after a Wall Street career, and who seems to know loss. Myrna is thinking of moving, needing a home with more space to accommodate her niece. So when the rumour of a secret room in Myrna's loft begins, it seems like it may offer an answer.

Instead, the room offers more questions. Questions about what is hidden there and about who hid it and why. These questions also reach back into the past and into Quebec's early history, but also into the art world and a painting known as The Paston Treasure, a painting that was done by an unknown painter, seemingly to show off a collection of odd items connected in the family's travels. 

As always, Penny draws on real stories and adds in her own fictional elements to create a story that captures the imagination. She encompasses bigger issues such as the damage done to child victims of crimes, and how people react when faced with their biggest fears. 

The stakes are high in this tale, and so is the tension, and we see more of what have been minor characters until now, like Billy Williams, as well as a reappearance by Amelia Choquet. 

The Last Days of New Paris

Finished November 2

The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville

This alternative history novel starts in 1950 in a Paris that doesn't resemble the one that really existed then, and then jumps back to earlier times to track how that Paris was created.

The premise here is that the energy created by the art and ideas of a group of surrealist artists was captured, and then misused as a bomb (the S-blast) in Paris creating destruction, but also giving life to creatures and animate forms originating in surrealist art. 

The creatures are taken from visual art and literature, and range from relatively benign to terrifying. These creatures were mainly acting against the German forces, and the Germans tried to create in a similar way, but also called on darker forces from below. 

The main character is a young man whose parents were killed in the first actions after the blast and who seems to be able to engage positively with some creatures, and follow clues to gain new weapons and use what now exists to continue the fight. But Paris has been sealed off from the world beyond, and he longs to leave to see a world more normal. As he tries to find a way out, he meets someone who seems to have come in, and who is trying to document Paris as it is now as a way of those not able to witness it for themselves to see it before the city is destroyed for good. 

There is a lot here about surrealism and the artists known for their work in this genre, and the notes at the end of the book help readers to understand some of the references in the text. There is also an afterword written by the author of how he came to write the book, which is also an interesting extension of the the alternative history. 

A book like no other I've ever read. 

If I Didn't Know Better

Finished May 23

If I Didn't Know Better by Barbara Freethy

This is the 9th book in the Calloways series, all around a large extended family. Here, the story is focused on Mia Calloway, a young art curator, who has just left her job at a museum after an ill-fated romance ended. Mia's favourite aunt, Carly, has died recently and Mia volunteers to go to the town of Angel's Bay, where her aunt lived and clear out her house. Her aunt lived an adventurous life, travelling a lot, having lots of short relationships, and being creative. Mia had spent time visiting when she was younger and regrets not seeing her aunt more recently. 

Carly had a guesthouse out back of her place, and let people stay there for free, mainly artists who would leave her a picture in payment for the stay. Many were going through difficult periods in their lives and needed some time to focus and think things through before moving on.

The house next door has recently been rented to Jeremy Holt, who is both recovering from injuries received during his military career and determining what his future holds, and getting to know his eight-year-old daughter Ashlyn, whose mother recently died in a violent robbery, and who Jeremy wasn't aware of until authorities contacted him as next of kin. Ashlyn is traumatized by the loss of her mother, and is mostly non-verbal and withdrawn. She is in therapy, but seems drawn to Mia from the start.

As Mia deals with the contents of the home and guesthouse of her aunt, she finds many paintings, some from the artists who stayed in the guesthouse, some her aunt painted herself, and gets an idea for an exhibit at the local gallery.

Both Mia and Jeremy are at turning points in their lives, deciding on what they will do next professionally, and finding new ways forward personally. 

The romance starts quickly, with both drawn to each other immediately and not thinking beyond the summer at first, and other things happen quickly here too.

There is a mystery surrounding the paintings, and background on both main characters, with enough to hold the reader's interest. I did find some of the dialogue awkward, and things worked out a little too easily for me here, but it was a quick read.

Material Visions

Finished August 10
Material Visions: A Gallery of Miniature Art Quilts by Stampington & Company

This is a glorious collection of art quilts, featuring over ninety quilts from forty artists. Most of the artists are American, but there are a couple from Australia too. The materials used include traditional quilting materials as well as other fibres, found objects, paper, and natural materials.
A few of the artists have multi-page coverage, where they discuss their inspirations and how they work to create their works.
Others have short descriptions of the quilt, the materials and methods involved. Each quilt includes at least one photography and sometimes closeup images as well.
I found myself inspired by these pieces and I kept thinking "Oh, I can do something like that, but with this instead..." as I read my way through it.
An absolute delight to see how many different ways artists can make their visions happen.

Cat Alphabet

Finished June 10
Cat Alphabet by The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fun book highlights cats in art using the alphabet as a structure. The cover shows the 'C' entry that they title Copy Cats. It is an image from a Peruvian tunic from the 15th-16th century. I love the depiction of the teeth!
Each letter highlights a piece of art featuring a cat as the subject, and many types, styles, and eras of art are included here.
In time, they range from ancient to present. In format we have lithographs, textiles, paintings in different mediums, statues, drawings, mezzotints, and engravings.
A fun little collection

Promise Not to Tell

Finished May 29
Promise Not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krentz, narrated by Susan Bennett

This thriller takes place in and around Seattle, with two main characters who have a shared traumatic past. Virginia Troy was only a young child when she survived a deliberate fire at a rural cult compound. Her mother died in the fire, and Virginia still has nightmares about that night, despite being raised by a loving grandmother. Cabot Sutter was a bit older than Virginia when he survived that fire, and he also lost his mother. His mother's family wanted nothing to do with him, and he was raised along with two other young male survivors by a man who had his own terrors from that night, Anson Salinas, the police detective that saved them. Anson and all three of the young men have now joined together in a detective agency, and they have reason to believe the cult leader Quinton Zane is still alive despite the boat fire that was supposed to have killed him.
Virginia has made a good life running her own art gallery, and recently made contact with a couple of older women who also survived that night. They were friends of her mothers, and one of them found her truth through painting. The pictures she painted of that night are dark and haunting, even disturbing, but also very good. Virginia has taken the paintings, but it is the last painting, sent to her just as the artist died in a very suspicious manner, that has made Virginia seek out Anson and his agency as people who won't dismiss her suspicions that Zane is still alive. She is correct, and as Cabot returned to the office as she was describing the situation, he is the one that works with her on the case. It doesn't hurt that there is a spark between them, and that they both understand the other's PTSD symptoms.
At the same time this is all happening, Xavier, a younger cousin in Cabot's estranged family approaches him out of curiousity and rebellion wanting to know more about this cousin his father and grandfather hated so much. At first Cabot doesn't want to deal with him, but Virginia and Anson convince him to give the young man a chance without blaming him for his family's actions.
The cult element is very interesting, showing the tactics and personal characteristics of a sociopath intent on his own interests. This is the second book in a series, and I haven't read the first, but had no issues with that.

The Place of Shining Light

Finished July 21
The Place of Shining Light by Nazneen Skeikh

This book has suspense, romance, and spiritual enlightenment.
There are several related storylines that the reader follows here. One of them is that of Khalid, a Pakistan antiquities dealer, who steals to order, makes very good fakes, and engages in illegal import and export of art. His wife Sofia loves him very much, but is happy with a simple life, and still cooks all the meals for the household, even when he has numerous guests. Khalid has two sons, one of whom, Hamza, lives overseas and works for the family business from there. The other Hassan, is the apple of Sofia's eye, but a disappointment to Khalid who finds him a playboy who is always asking for financial handouts. Khalid relies on his nephew Faisal as his closest confidante in all business matters.
Adeel is an ex-military officer who has been hired by Khalid to steal a Buddhist statue from Bamiyan (the place of shining light). Adeel is a reliable young man, very close to his mother, who has done work like this before. This time however, the statue causes him to have a spiritual awakening, affecting him in a way he has never felt before. He wants to keep the statue for himself.
Ghalid is a wealthy land-owner, a wannabe politician, with a predilection for young boys and girls, preying on the people of his own village. He is not well-liked locally, partly due to his predation, and partly due to the lack of help he has given the locals over time.
As Khalid tries to track Adeel and the statue when they go missing, he engages both his military contacts that recommended Adeel, and a more criminal element that may have connections to the Taliban.
Adeel is resourceful and has many skills, but when he finds himself joined by a young woman who is looking for a new life, he finds both himself both exasperated and attracted.
An engaging novel with a lot of interesting characters.

The Lonely City

Finished June 29
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing

 

I started this book in audiobook, but ended up finishing it in hardcover as the audiobook had issues with a couple of discs. Having recently read Solitude, I was wondering how much the two books would have in common.
Olivia is from Britain, but this book, part memoir, is from time she spent in New York City. Her loneliness in this new city led to her exploring the experience of loneliness, both her own and others. The word "art" in the subtitle is a key to the framing of this exploration for Laing. She looks at a number of artists whose lives and art speak to their experiences, many of them intersecting with each other during their careers. Her explorations begin with Edward Hopper and his famous picture Nighthawks. It moves from there to Andy Warhol, who she revisits repeatedly, looking at his famous interviews, and his Time Capsules, among other things. She looks at Valerie Solanas, her SCUM Manifesto, and her unique relationship with Warhol. She explores David Wojnarowicz's art and activism, including his Close to the Knives and photographer Peter Hujar, whom he had a relationship with. This also leads her to the photography of Nan Goldin, and her portraits in Ballad.
She looks deeply at the work and journals of Henry Darger, an outsider artist, whose work was only discovered after his death, and thus a subject of analysis by many.
She also touches on others such as Samuel Delany, and Greta Garbo.
During her time in New York City, Laing lives in various sublets, from the East Village to Times Square, and it is during the period in Times Square that she talks about the influence of the internet, being connected, and disconnected at the same time. It also makes her think of fantasy worlds like Blade Runner, and SimCity.
This book introduced me to so many artists that I hadn't been aware of before, and made me realize just how common loneliness is in our society. For Laing, art was a way of finding connection, or communicating with others. Definitely a book to get you thinking

A Bed of Scorpions

Finished May 14
A Bed of Scorpions by Judith Flanders

This is the second book in the series featuring book editor Samantha Clair. I've already read the first A Murder of Magpies, and the third A Cast of Vultures and thoroughly enjoyed them. This one has Samantha meeting her old friend, former lover, and art dealer Aidan Merriam for a long standing lunch date. Aidan has just found his business partner dead, an apparent suicide, but isn't sure whether something else isn't going on. He knows of Samantha's relationship with a police officer, and hopes for her help. Samantha is also on an arts committee about grants, where she has to make a presentation, and she is trying to connect with other segments of the arts world that have more experience with grant funding than she does. When Samantha calls her mother to confer, she learns that her mother is also Aidan's lawyer, making the case a true family affair.
Another plot line takes place in her office, where her highly competent Goth assistant has been offered a job elsewhere and Samantha plots for a way to keep her on board.
Samantha has a good eye for detail, that being one of her skills that make her a great editor, and this means that she can spot things that a casual observer wouldn't catch. This also means that as she gets closer to the truth about Aidan's partner's death, she also becomes a threat to someone with more to lose.
This is an interesting story about greed, jealousy, and men that don't take women seriously. A great read, with lots of humour.

If Venice Dies

Finished December 12
If Venice Dies by Salvatore Settis. translated by Andre Naffis -Sahely

Settis is an Italian art historian, and this book looks at not only the unique city that Venice is, but also at the nature of cities, their worth, and their future. With the rise of theme attractions based on cities does the original city lose its worth? Does it become an open air museum only populated by tourists who don't immerse themselves in true city life. Do cities like Venice become too expensive for ordinary people to live, priced out by those looking for trendy second home and by hotels. Is the city more than the sum of its parts. Does it have a soul.
Does the growing globalization of the world mean that cities become more and more like each other and lose their unique nature made up of their history, architecture, art, and culture. What are the responsibilities of governments at all levels to keep this from happening.
Settis is passionate about Venice in particular, and about retaining the culture each city has in general. He shows us how Venice has lost its citizens, now having only one resident for every 140 visitors. He talks about the power of money over culture and how and why we need to stand up for what is being lost, not only in Venice, but elsewhere.
An interesting read, sometimes becoming an academic lecture, but full of passion and knowledge.

The Night Stages

Finished May 17
The Night Stages by Jane Urquhart

Tamara is a woman at a point of crisis in her life. It is the early sixties and she has been in a relationship with a man who can't commit to her in the way she wants. She runs from the situation, driving across Ireland to the Dublin airport and taking a flight to New York. When the plane lands for refueling at Gander, Newfoundland, the airport there fogs in, and she is grounded for hours. She notices a large mural in the airport, and moves back and forth between reflecting on her life and studying the mural.
Tamara is from a well-off family, Her father is involved in construction, providing concrete and other resources for building projects. Tamara has rebelled against her family, first as a tomboy running a bit wild, then becoming a pilot for the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II, then leaving her husband for a man from a lower class and running off to Ireland with him. Her most recent relationship is with another Irishman, Niall, a meteorologist who has his own issues. Niall is haunted by guilt over his actions that contributed to his younger brother Kieran leaving. Kieran hasn't been heard from in years, and Niall has taken every opportunity he could to search for his brother. We hear Niall's story as he tells it to Tamara.
A second narrator in the novel is Kieran himself, telling the story of his own childhood, his breakdown after his mother's death, his subsequent life living in a small village, gaining a basic education, working as a labourer and getting involved in bicycling. Kieran lived with the family housekeeper Gerry-Annie beginning shortly after his mother's death, and became enamored of a bike left behind by someone leaving the area. The bike, christened the Purple Hornet by Kieran, leads to his future in ways he never envisioned.
The third narrator is Kenneth Lochhead, the painter of the mural at Gander. Lochhead is a real historical figure and Urquhart acknowledges this while creating his story. The story of the mural is an interesting one. Done in egg tempura, it took something like 5000 eggs to create and incorporated figures from Lochhead's past.
The Irish portions of the story are from County Kerry, and bring the country to life vividly.
This story makes beautiful use of language and reveals the unpredictable nature of love.

Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper

Finished May 10
Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper by Harriet Scott Chessman

I picked this book up from one of my to-be-read piles as a nice slim novel to slip into my purse. I started it just after finishing the book Painted Girls and was interested to see Degas reappear as a character here. Chessman brings us into the life of the American painter Mary Cassatt, who lived in Paris for much of her professional life. She does this through the eyes of Lydia, Mary's older sister.
Lydia suffered from Bright's disease and had more regular flare-ups of debilitation during her last couple of years. Not very much is known historically about Lydia, who never married, and while Chessman used biographical information of Mary Cassatt and her family, knowledge of the lives of people of this wealth bracket living in Paris at this time, and family letters to frame her story, she also added elements to flesh out Lydia's character.
The book is framed around five portraits of Lydia by Mary, and each portrait has its own chapter here which includes a full colour reproduction of the painting in question. We see the relationship between the two sisters, Mary's involvement in the artistic and cultural life of Paris, including her close relationship with Degas, the Cassatt family life, and the creation of these wonderful paintings.
The first, the cover painting, Lydia Reading the Morning Paper, was created in Cassatt's studio in Paris in 1878-1879, and this chapter introduces us to the characters, Lydia's illness, and Cassatt's world.
The second, The Cup of Tea, was also created in Mary's studio in Paris, this time in 1880-1881, gives us further insight into the sisters' relationship.
The third, Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly, was created at the Cassatt country house in the summer of 1880. This gives us a glimpse of life in the country, the activities the family did while they were there and the visitors they had.
The fourth, Woman and Child Driving, was again an open air setting, this time in Paris and with additional subjects. The child is Degas' niece, Odile, and the man is a Cassatt family servant.
The last, Lydia Seated at an Embroidery Frame, was done in the Cassatt home in Paris in 1881, and shows another common pastime for women.
What the novel gives us is a closer look at these particular artworks, and some interpretation of them, as well as a look into the relationship between the model and the artist.
A lovely novel with a unique structure and subject.

The Painted Girls

Finished March 4
The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

I listened to the audiobook version of this and found it slow-moving, but in the end I enjoyed the story. Set in Paris in 1878, the book revolves around the three van Goethem sisters, real girls in history. The story is told in three voices, that of the oldest sister, Antoinette, who had been in the second cadre of the ballet until she got too mouthy and now works as an extra at the Opera; the second sister Marie, who had been kept in school with the nun's until her father's death and then joins the Opera as a "petite rat"; and newspaper stories of the day that set the larger scenes of the story.
Antoinette leaves her job at the opera to take a part in the Emile Zola play l'Assommoir, where she plays the part of a laundress, a job her mother does in reality. Shortly before this, and during this time she becomes affiliated with a young man, who makes her feel special, but leads her into troubling directions. The young man, Emile Abadie, also exists in real history, but there is no evidence that the two real people had anything to do with each other.
Marie finds that she is actually talented at ballet, and she works hard to learn everything she needs to know to move into the corps. She also attracts the attention of the painter Degas, and is a model of his for several years both of paintings, and of the controversial sculpture Little Dancer, Aged 14. Marie is also an avid reader of the newspapers when she can get hold of them, and has become a convert to a belief widely espoused at the time that physiognomy predicts character. As a result, she believes her own looks mean that she is destined for a depraved and unhappy life, and having this reinforced by the reaction to the statuette modelled on herself does not help.
The youngest sister Charlotte, is the one that reality brought a long ballet career to, but we only see the beginnings of that here, as she is first too eager to show off, and then nervous of how others perceive her. She is the sister that we don't see inside the thoughts of, and thus is less well developed to us.
One gets a real sense of the Paris of the day, and of the worlds of both the lower class and the ballet at the Paris Opera. This book gave me historical information I wasn't aware of before and enlarged my view of the cultural world of the time in terms of art and ballet, of the social structure of Paris at this time in history, and of the penal system of the time. All in all, a very interesting novel, based on real people in history.