Welcome to Litsy!

Loved this, as expected! The MC is in Paris at the start of COVID lockdowns, watched by the ghost of Hortense Cezanne, as she tries to write a biography of her.

I really liked how the author played with memory and recollection, as the two women explored each other‘s memories.

Thank you for sending this to me! @CarolynM 😘

📸 Sunrise over Bamburgh Castle. Can you see the line of photographers on the beach, all after the perfect shot?! ☺️

I read this thanks to Carolyn‘s review and loved it. A writer struggles to write a biography of Hortense Cezanne while watched by Hortense‘s ghost. A story of older women with time to reflect on their griefs & secrets. Isolated by the pandemic, Hortense observes & learns more about the writer than the writer has learnt about her. The observed becomes the observer. OKeefe does so much in limited time &space. A book with beautiful sentences.

Thank you for my surprise gift! @CarolynM 😘

This book sounds SO good - I‘ve been keeping an eye out for it since you read and reviewed it but, you‘re right, it‘s very difficult to find.

I love the coaster too - perfect! 👌

A thoughtful, beautifully crafted novella that carries a lot in its few pages.

Part One sees a writer working on a book about Hortense Cezanne (wife of the artist), traveling from Australia to Aix-en-Provence to Paris, accompanied by the ghost of Hortense herself. It plays with classical ideas of the muse, as Hortense watches and occasionally contributes to the writer's efforts to unearth the story of the woman behind the famed artist.

Cont'd

"It was then that I became aware of the sea. Though not visible through the window, I could smell its seaweed smell, I could hear its roar of outrage - for the sea is a constant agitator for change, for resetting, for rewriting old rules."

#BookReport for May. The Wardrobe Department and The Sitter were my two favourites for the month.

The spirit of Cezanne‘s wife & frequent subject, Hortence, tells her story while watching over a writer who is trying to write Hortense‘s biography but winds up writing a heartbreaking part of her own autobiography. That may sound like an unnecessary bit of literary pretentiousness, but it is beautifully & sensitively done. I‘m not surprised it was on all those prize lists last year. #ozfiction
Second book for #14books14weeks

Saturday after ballet it was op shopping time!