When Exceptional Art Meets Everyday People

When Exceptional Art Meets Everyday People

by | Oct 8, 2023 | Art history, Book review, Germany, Historical novels, Holocaust, Netherlands, World War II

Have you ever encountered art, literature, or music that impacted you in a way you can’t forget?

This month, we discuss a historical novel about a painting that altered several lives, and a work of history in which opera changed two ordinary lives, which in turn saved numerous lives.

But first: join me and three other historical novelists on October 17th on Zoom for “Women Breaking the Rules: Heroines in Historical Fiction.” To join us for the discussion, sign up (no charge) at:

Women Breaking the Rules: Heroines in Historical Fiction

Now to the reviews:

Girl in Hyacinth Blue, by Susan Vreeland, cover image

How can a novel about a painting keep you turning the pages?

Susan Vreeland, author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue, pulls this off with 8 chapters that work on their own as short stories, but leave readers wanting more.

With its focus on a Dutch painting, this novel (published in 1999) explores the artwork’s origins, the paths it traveled over the centuries, and its impact on individuals who possessed it.

Girl in Hyacinth Blue has likely served as a model for authors of more recent novels with through lines consisting of objects (especially of art) rather than individual people.

Characters:

Beginning with the painting’s most recent owner, going back in time to the girl the artist portrayed, the author reveals the core of each personality through his or her relationship with the painting.

I would spoil the story if I mentioned the relationship of each character to the novel as a whole. So, while I must avoid comments about specific characters, I can mention the topics these stories bring up:

  • The position of girls and women in earlier times
  • Artists’ economically vulnerable professions
  • Calamitous floods in the Netherlands
  • Execution of “witches”
  • The “Middle Passage” slave trade
  • Nazi looting of art treasures owned by Jews

Above all, the individual stories show how the painting at the heart of this novel revealed or changed the character of each owner.

Strengths:

  • The author’s creative connection of the stories is part of the wonder of this novel.
  • She uses key details to create a distinct setting for each of the 8 stories.
  • In a brief space, she develops each character and his/her relationship to the painting.

Weakness:

  • If a reader hopes for a single set of characters throughout the novel, s/he won’t find it in this novel.

Content review:

  • The novel contains references to physical intimacy, but not extensively throughout the novel.

My Recommendation:

Although this novel isn’t lengthy, it covers much ground. If evocative, well-written stories combining a painting, people, and their times interest you, you’ll enjoy Girl in Hyacinth Blue.

Overture of Hope, by Isabel Vincent, cover image

I love to read about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, especially when the stories are true—and I hope you do, too.

In Overture of Hope, two unassuming British sisters show their courage and heroism during World War II, venturing into Nazi territory to rescue Jewish opera stars facing extermination.

Author Isabel Vincent reveals the true story of how in the 1920s, Ida and Louise developed a passion for opera by listening to vinyl records, and she shows where that led them.  They loved to attend live opera so much they took brown-bag lunches to work and saved their meager salaries to buy tickets (standing in line for discounts, of course) to operas in London.

Ida, the outgoing younger sister, took the lead in reaching out to visiting opera stars, such as Amelita Galli-Curci. Bold correspondence led to fan relationships with luminaries. By the time Hitler came to power, the sisters had established friendships with several stars and often conversed with them backstage when they came to London.

Among their operatic friends, Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss and his wife, soprano Viorica Ursuleac, became controversial because of their collaboration with Hitler. At the same time, they enlisted the aid of Ida and Louise to help Jewish opera singers escape from Nazi-occupied lands.

Ida’s success as a romance novelist enabled the sisters to travel as opera tourists who often arranged singers’ and families’ escapes, as well as smuggling out the priceless jewelry of the Jewish people they assisted.

Characters:

They are shown as the very human individuals they were—even the heroines weren’t perfect.

  • Ida – years into adult life, she found success as a romance novelist. Later in life, she enjoyed recounting the stories of what she did in the war
  • Louise – quiet, shy, she lived in her younger sister’s shadow the majority of her life

Strengths:

Exciting plot, well-researched

Weakness:

Sometimes a bit more repetition of facts than readers need

Content review:

Includes accounts of Nazi persecution and acts of cruelty, although not in graphic detail

My Recommendation:

If you enjoy a heroic story involving characters from the world of opera, and you’d like to learn more about what happened in the opera world during the war, this is a book for you.

Reader, what works of art, literature, or music have changed your life?

How Powerful is an Ordinary Person?

How Powerful is an Ordinary Person?

by | Jun 7, 2023 | Book review, Historical novels, Holocaust, Poland, World War II

How could a tobacco-chewing, defiant, small Polish peasant woman thwart the Nazis’ attempt to exterminate the Jews? 

As summer begins in the northern hemisphere, I hope you’ll have opportunities to get away from normal routines, relax and read—perhaps J.L. Witterick’s My Mother’s Secret.

  • This short historical novel is based on the lives of Franciszka and Helena, a Polish mother and daughter recognized as “the Righteous among the Nations” in Israel.
  • In the midst of the German occupation of Poland in World War II, they risked everything to save the lives of people they barely knew.
  • The author weaves the stories of these desperate people with the lives of Franciszka and Helena, crafting a suspense-filled plot that keeps readers turning the pages.

Characters:

  • Helena – narrator, protagonist, and daughter of Franciszka. Her mother and brother shape her character, but she must make difficult choices on her own.
  • Franciszka – Helena’s mother, the heroine of the story, hides two Jewish families and a German soldier. She says “If you choose to do the right thing, it’s a conscious decision at first…Your actions with time become your character.” Her life exemplifies her words, and readers will root for her.
  • Bronek – Jewish carpenter who appeals for help for somewhere to hide his family from the Nazis
  • Mikolaj – son of prominent Jewish doctor whose family also needs a place to hide from the Nazis
  • Vilheim – young German vegetarian who values every living being. After being drafted into the German Army, he’s disgusted by the Nazis’ actions and deserts. If caught, he will face death by firing squad.

Strengths:

This story cuts to the core of every character and reveals how each one responds to danger and moral dilemmas.

Weakness:

Heroic characters seem almost too good to be true.

Content review:

Contains references to violence that occurs offstage.

My recommendation:

According to publishing industry veteran, Howard Wells, My Mother’s Secret is “authentic and reads like poetry.” From my perspective, this novel is a quick read that was hard to put down, with characters, events, and themes that challenged me to reflect on what I would do in similar circumstances. I hope you’ll consider it as a worthy addition to your reading list.

Reader, can you recommend a story of heroism to inspire other readers?