The Dream Collector is without a doubt one of the most accomplished Historical Fiction books I have read in a very, very long time. RW Meek has, with his beautiful, fluid writing captured the world of psychosis, the burgeoning Impressionist Art movement and the dilemma of two sisters; one suffering psychosis the other trying to understand, guiding her sister through troubled times.
This is the second book in the series of Sabine and her sister Julie Forette; Sabine has gathered a cult following for her poetry, visions and what appears to be a belief in another world of mystery. She has been hospitalised in the infamous Salpêtrièr Asylum for Women for the past five years.
A young Sigmund Freud has been undertaking a new style of treatment for this type of illness and believes he has cured Sabine of her affliction. Julie has over the previous five years began a career as a translator of books and has also become well respected as a woman with a very good eye for Art by Theo van Gogh, a prestigious Art dealer in Paris and brother of Vincent.
Reunited the sisters enter the world of 1886 Paris, where the Impressionist painters are now becoming a very real style of almost acceptable Art.
Young Vincent van Gogh arrives in Paris to live with his brother. He and Sabine meet forming an ill-fated alliance; their combined psychotic episodes have Julie and Theo extremely worried that the alliance will end in a terrible tragedy.
Julie has begun to try and understand the dreams her sister has, corresponding with Sigmund and eventually deciding the art of hypnotism is something she can use to try and help not only her sister, but also to better understand the impulses that drive her.
The many characters that populate their lives in the heady world of Paris of 1886, are the very men whose Art works are now highly sought. These men were at the beginning of their careers in Impressionist Art, many such as Vincent van Gogh, struggling to sell a painting.
Julie and Sabine’s story weaves seamless and perfectly into the frustrating and yet heady days of Paris, capturing the immense mental health issues suffered by Vincent van Gogh, the truth telling of the Madam of the brothel that started Sabine’s downfall into another world and the final resolution of Julie into a sad, but difficult understanding of so much of their troubled past.
Even though there is much written about this time in the Art world, RW Meek has bought the times, the struggle to be discovered or even accepted, the artists faced, the tragedy that is and can be family and the very colourful lives of so many artists of those times, into the world of today with a wonderful attention to detail.
Meek states he tries to tell a story with as much historical accuracy as possible. The facts are correct, the characters Sabine and Julie are fiction, but history tells there were women such as these involved in the lives of the Van Gogh brothers. Who is to say different.
The Dream Collector weaves fact and fiction together in a passionate, vibrant and intimate discovery of relationship, belonging and love creating a brilliant return to a time of intense scientific discovery, flamboyant art and immense change. A wonderful read regardless of whether you are an art aficionado or simply passionate about historic fiction.