Overview

In the early 1900s, Corinne Mackall meets and falls in love with Gari Melchers, a renowned artist, while traveling to the Paris Salon. An accomplished artist in her own right, Corinne and Gari have much in common, and the two are soon married. Corinne envisions a future traversing the art world side by side with her husband in a partnership of equals-hopes that are quickly dashed when she discovers the same gender inequalities that defined her youth afflict the art scene too. Instead, Corinne dedicates more and more time to supporting her husband's career, even as she finds herself less and less able to focus on her own artwork. When Gari's career explodes and makes him a household name, comparable to his friends John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler, her plight only becomes more difficult. Will Corinne retain her identity as an artist in her own right? Or will she be defined by her role as Gari's wife? Based on the true story of Corinne and Gari Melchers, this novel follows their remarkable journey together through life, from an art school in seaside Holland, to a studio in Weimar Germany before the Great War, and finally to their estate, Belmont, in central Virginia.

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9781966369400

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Reviews

""Mrs. Gari Melchers follows Corinne Melchers' steadfast journey for recognition in a society that expects women to stay in the background. From art school critiques to the unforgiving Paris Salon, and a life with renowned painter Gari Melchers in Holland, Corinne must reconcile her identity as an artist, a wife, and a woman fighting to be seen. She builds a creative life alongside, and sometimes despite, a husband who loves her dearly but struggles to understand her yearnings, despite being an artist himself. Joyce Miller's beautifully crafted historical novel is a nuanced, heartfelt exploration of ambition, marriage, and the quest for artistic freedom in an era in which women's voices often were not heard. Miller offers a moving portrait of resilience, quiet defiance, and creative hunger."" -Gigi Howard, host of the podcast Drinks in the Library ""For lovers of art and Virginian history, Joyce Miller's Mrs. Gari Melchers offers a glimpse into a world gone by. Grounded in period and technical detail, the opening scenes transport the reader into the early twentieth century life of Corinne Mackall, an artist who struggles to find her place amid shifting feminist expectations, the fetters of Depression-era societal norms, and turmoil of two world wars. In Corinne, Miller has unearthed a figure often relegated to the footnotes of art history . . . but who is clearly worth getting to know in her own right."" -Joanna Lee, Poet Laureate of Richmond, Virginia, and author of Dissections

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