Author(s): Angela O'Keeffe

Adult Fiction | Staff Favourites

Paris, 2020. A writer is confined to her hotel room during the early days of the pandemic, struggling to finish a novel about Hortense Cezanne, wife and sometime muse of the famous painter. Dead for more than a century, Hortense has been reawakened by this creative endeavour, and now shadows the writer through the locked-down city. But Hortense, always the subject of the gaze of others, is increasingly intrigued by the woman before her. Who is she and what event hides in her past? Heartbreaking and perfectly formed, The Sitter explores the tension between artist and subject, and between the stories told about us and the stories we choose to tell.

STAFF REVIEW by Millie

Set in Paris in 2020, ‘The Sitter’ explores the journey of two women studying one another. A writer who is confined to her hotel in the early days of the pandemic struggling to finish a novel about Hortense Cezanne, ife and muse of the famous painter. Though Hortense has been dead for over a century, she is reawakened by the writer’s work and shadows her through the city. This is a lovely little novel which explores the tension between artist and subject and the stories we choose to tell versus the stories told about us. Elegant and easy.

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