PAINT THE WIND

A teenage Viennese girl comes of age amid the art scene in pre–WWI Europe.

In 1902 Vienna, 15-year-old Maya Sircos sits for her portrait. Despite the scandal of her Viennese mother Marie-Therese’s marriage to a Greek merchant, Kostas, the Sircos family is well-regarded in Vienna. Marie-Therese’s family expects Maya to mature into a sophisticated woman who adheres to the rules of high society. But when Maya meets the secretly Jewish painter Andreas Brenner, the direction of her life shifts; he sparks both passion and artistic vision within her. Four years later, Maya’s parents allow her to study art history, a rare opportunity for women in Vienna at the time. She eventually encounters Andreas again, who asks to paint her. The two begin a torrid affair, and Maya becomes his muse, awakening a new artistic fervor that leads to his first major success as an artist. The resulting scandal causes Kostas to send Maya to live with his family on Skiathos, where, after mourning her separation from Andreas, Maya grapples with which path she most wants to pursue: being Andreas’s muse, making her family happy, or creating her own art. Cardillo gives Maya a complex interiority that develops as Maya comes of age. The side characters are likewise fleshed out, with Andreas ably portrayed as intense, sexy, and romantic: “I saw the tension in his muscles, the restraint with which he held himself back, and then realized that he was about to take that energy and desire to the canvas.” The novel’s only flaw is near its conclusion; it jumps ahead more than 60 years, and introduces a new, jarring point-of-view. Still, Cardillo’s narrative is involving, richly portraying a unique corner of history.

Engaging, detailed historical fiction with excellent characterization.