A smoothly written tale of 1880s art and medicine with engrossing characters.
Meek’s historical novel encompasses Sigmund Freud’s early medical career and the milieu of the Impressionist painters.
Julie Forette has no desire to stay in Marseilles and do laundry for a living, like her mother. Instead, she develops an unusual ambition: to collect things that are ephemeral and intangible. She “forage[s] for dreams,” asking neighbors to tell her their most memorable ones and searching for truths concealed. Arriving in Paris in 1886, she talks her way into a job as a transcriber for renowned doctor Jean-Martin Charcot. Of particular interest to her is his research hospital, Salpêtrière, which houses neurologically impaired patients. At one of Charcot’s lectures, Julie meets and befriends intern Sigmund Freud. They share cocaine-fueled insights and an interest in helping sensitive young Salpêtrière inmate Sabrine Weiss. Charcot regularly showcases Sabrine in demonstrations, triggering her to pass through stages of a “hystero-attack.” On a walk, Julie notices a painting in a shop window: a still life by Paul Cézanne, which becomes her entry into Impressionism. Fascinated, Julie eventually meets the reclusive painter and poses nude for him in exchange for one of his dreams. Other artists she encounters include Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Paul Gauguin. Julie’s main objective, though, is saving Sabrine, with whom she’s revealed to have a deeply personal connection. In this novel, Meek skillfully entwines the worlds of Impressionism and 19th-century medicine; both worlds are compelling, and the back-and-forth between them ensures that the narrative never flags. Settings, from Charcot’s opulent house to Cezanne’s one-room studio, are well described, but it’s the memorable characterization that anchors the story. Julie’s intelligence, independence, and beauty attract admirers, and she pursues sex without shame or guilt. Freud could easily have become a caricature, but he’s portrayed sympathetically as struggling to balance the physical and psychological sides of healing. Even minor characters shine, such as Degas’ muse Suzanne Valadon, who yearns to be an artist herself.
A smoothly written tale of 1880s art and medicine with engrossing characters.Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781962465137
Page Count: 556
Publisher: Historium Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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