Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: Sunflowers
Author: Sheramy Bundrick
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-176527-8
Release Date: October 2009
Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Fiction
Year/Setting: Arles, France/1800’s
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: Subtle/Sensual
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None/Mild
Violent Content Rating: None/Minimal
Sheramy's Website/Blog: www.sheramybundrick.com
Dear Readers:
Debut novels, I love. As a writer it feels good to see someone new come along who has a vivid imagination and the skill to put it down on paper for others to enjoy. Ms. Bundrick is just such an author. She is an art historian and a professor, which automatically means that she wrote about something near and dear to her heart…Vincent Van Gogh.
In this wonderful telling, we follow a young girl by the name of Rachel. Rachel is one of those characters that you really feel for. As a young girl, she lost the support network that made her life complete and ended up stepping off a train in Arles, France without a penny or hope to her name. As with many young women in that day and age, the beautiful Rachel ends up working at a brothel in town in order to keep herself fed. One day she walks into a garden and falls asleep. When she wakes up, a man is studying her intently and sketching her. Vincent Van Gogh is the name of this sudden intrusion into Rachel’s life, and he is not only a kind and decent man, he is one who sees in Rachel all the wonderful qualities that she can’t see in herself.
At once, we are brought into this new relationship where the reader will follow the characters through every level that makes up the world of true love: friendship, loyalty, a respected partnership, and on and on. Now, as we all know, Vincent Van Gogh’s psyche turned dark and mysterious during his lifetime, and this story told through the eyes of Rachel adds much more dimension to his mystifying tale of creativity and sorrow.
You will love the descriptive phrases in this book. Vincent’s house is the "color of butter." His clothes are a "blue workman’s jacket spattered with paint…shabby white trousers and mud-caked shoes…yellow straw hats…" And he has "freckles that gleam under the sun…" Every phrase seems to be an artistic masterpiece all its own. I am a Monet fan, myself, but I have always loved Van Gogh’s Sunflowers – and this book made me a much bigger fan than I’ve ever been.
I look forward to Ms. Bundrick’s very long writing career.
Enjoy!
Until next time, Amy
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