I loved the concept of this book. I fell in love with this artist while travelling Nova Scotia and eagerly got my hands on everything I could. I liked the book but I didn’t love it, though I think that’s just because the artist is too dear to my heart.

Brighten the Corner Where You Are by Carol Bruneau

Thanks to NetGalley and Nimbus Publishing, Vagrant Press for a digital ARC for an honest review.

This portrayal of Maud and her husband from her perspective was wonderful. It is amazing that someone living with such physical disabilities and in such poverty was able to produce such cheerful Folk art. I really enjoyed this well-researched novel.

#NetGalley #BrightentheCornerWhereYouAre

Most of the pages were blank and I was only able to read a few sentences. I was looking for word to reading this book so I am disappointed.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Nimbus Publishing for this profoundly moving, enthralling vision of the challenging life of Maud Lewis. This is a beautifully written, glorious story that is narrated by Maud from beyond the grave. The author, Carol Bruneau, has relied on well-researched facts and insightful speculation. She has told the story with Maritime colloquialisms and expressions that add to its believability. This work of fiction enhances the biographies written about Maud's sad and tragic life and her resilience. Maud painted in a confined space, and the book describes how she found joy with vivid colors viewed through a tiny window and deep within her imagination. The result was glorious folk art produced through her pain and impoverished circumstances.

I have been a longtime fan of her artwork and am lucky to have two of her paintings hanging in my living room. These were purchased cheaply before Maud became famous, but I would never part with them. Two years ago, the movie 'Maudie' gave people a less bleak picture of her life but made her art widely known, much in demand, and expensive.

Suffering from a progressive degenerative condition, she produced colorful paintings despite painful, deformed hands. Due to a very tiny working space in the small shack where she lived, she frequently endured injuries from falling or bumping into things.

When she was younger, she had an illegitimate child, and the father deserted her. To protect Maud and hide their shame, her parents lied to her about the baby's fate. After her parents' death, she lived with a scornful, Bible-quoting aunt. She dreaded a likely need to live in a poorhouse, so married to escape this fate. Her husband was Everett, a mean, miserly, ignorant drunk, and she lived with him in a cold one-room shack without a toilet, running water or electricity. Based on a mutual need, they seemed to have developed a manner of love and caring for one another but also an ongoing resentment. Maud worked long hours on her brightly coloured paintings and decorated every spare space on the shack. Her husband, a miser, took and hid any small proceeds from her paintings, causing them to live in extreme poverty.

One must admire Maud and the glowing primitive art she produced during years of hardship. This brilliant speculative fiction adds insight and emotion to the non-fiction books about her life.