Member Review

Vincent Van Gogh’s life reads like a novel, even without fictionalization. But author Diane Byington plums the last months of his life with rich and rewarding “what ifs.” Yes, the Ravoux family—Arthur, Louise, 13-year-old Adeline, and one-year-old Germaine—ran the inn, but what if Arthur was a cad and Louise a sad wife? Yes, Van Gogh stayed at the Ravoux Inn in Auvers-sur-Oise, but what if he fell in love with the beautiful Louise? Yes, Van Gogh died of a gunshot wound, but what if it wasn’t self-inflicted?

Byington takes the facts and imagines a tender love story, explores a woman’s options in that day, brings to life a girl made famous in a painting (take the time to look up Portrait of Adeline Ravoux if you’re not familiar with it), and “paints” an artist known for mental illness with gentle strokes.

Louise and Vincent captivated me by plunging me into the French countryside, where so many artists escaped to for inspiration, and unfolding a story about a sensitive man who awakens the artistic and sexual senses of an abused woman.

Thanks to NetGalley and Red Adept Publishing for an advanced review copy.