This is a breathtaking book on Art, specifically, Matisse, longing, and a mother's life. I am a Cynthia Newberry Martin fan since her book, "Love Like This" which I highly recommend. "The Art of Her Life" is full of quiet reflections, that like the brush strokes in a painting, culminate in the larger masterpiece of one women's life. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The Art of Her Life by Cynthia Newberry Martin was not quite what I expected. While it was a beautiful meditation on life, love, what we cherish, and how present we must be throughout our lives, it was also a reflection on how to die. On balance, I wished there was a bit less of that than how the character, Emily, developed as she grew into her life. I was not expecting the turn as it was written and I wish more of the book focused on art and Emily's life. But because the book was so well written with important things to think about, I gave it four stars.

There are two important things going on in this book. One is how Emily lives before and after she finds out she has late stage ovarian cancer and also about the transformative power of art.

When we are first introduced to Emily, she is a young widow (without much grief for her husband), mother of two very young daughters, has a lover who wants to marry her, and works at an art museum. She is all about the artist, Matisse— in both his paintings and his philosophy of life. She first saw his painting, Breakfast, when she was nine years old and it has been a guide post for her. The museum she works at his is holding an essay contest. The winners will have the opportunity to see the painting they've written about. The thought of seeing the original Breakfast again thrills her. This absorbs her as other threads of her life unravel.

Rudderless, Emily can't figure out what is important to her and her daughters, until the worst thing happens. The second half of the book is beautifully done but it is long and achingly sad, I wished that part had been shortened.

It was a beautiful read. Although, I know the principle message was how art can transform an ordinary life, the relationships Emily cultivated in her brief life were the true masterpieces.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read the ARC.

My thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to read The Art of Her Life by Cynthia Newberry Martin. An amazing, beautiful, heartbreaking book.