Life Studies: Stories »

Since the publication of her bestselling Girl in Hyacinth Blue, novelist Susan Vreeland has explored the relationships between life and art, rendering scenes from Amsterdam to Rome to the Canadian wilderness with sensitivity and a delicate, painterly precision.

With her richly textured novels Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of the artist's life. Now, in a collection of profound wisdom and beauty, she explores the transcendent power of art through the eyes of ordinary people. Life Studies begins with historic tales that, rather than focusing directly on the great Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masters themselves, render those on the periphery—their lovers, servants, and children—as their personal experiences play out against those of Manet, Monet, van Gogh, and others. Vreeland then gives us contemporary stories in which her characters—a teacher, a construction worker, and an orphan for example—encounter art in meaningful, often surprising ways. A fascinating exploration of the lasting strength of art in everyday life, Life Studies is a dazzling addition to Vreeland's outstanding body of work.

The Washington Post - Meredith Blum

The most successful of these historical stories is the first, "Mimi With a Watering Can," which depicts the tormented thoughts of a Parisian bank functionary who is father to the blond cherub in the blue dress and red hair ribbon immortalized in Renoir's famous painting. … Vreeland skillfully takes us through Jerome's reckoning with his secret wish to be a poet -- which seems an impossible profession for him to undertake at this late stage -- yet concludes the story on a human note. It is somehow creative in its own right, Jerome decides, to try to live his life with open eyes and appreciation for what the day brings.