11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Gift of Friendship, May 3, 2008
Marjorie Price paints as skillfully with words as with watercolors and oils. The Breton village in which she spent the early years of her married life, and her life as an artist, is made present in a series of vividly sketched images: a sudden, violent summer storm in the fields of new-mown hay; the tide receding from a rocky shore; a black-clad Breton woman gathering mussels in her knotted apron. The people in her life, including the brilliant artist husband whose dark side gradually emerges, are captured in quick, deft strokes, and her own journey to self-awareness as an artist is beautifully integrated with the rest of the story. Most of all, however, this is a story of friendship--of the author's enduring friendship with the remarkable Jeanne Montrelay, and of the richness of a bond between two women who have nothing in common except greatness of heart.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like the tide, starts gently and then pulls you in!, May 14, 2008
When you wake up at 5 in the morning to continue reading, you know that the book has pulled you in! Written with both passion and restraint, the book resonates with the reader throughout. You cannot help but connect with this remarkable woman as she experiences life, love, loss and, most of all, friendship. It takes place in Paris and in Brittany, but really appllies anywhere because of its honesty and spirit. It is a DON'T-MISS book!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A loving tribute to a special friend, May 17, 2009
In 1960 twenty-eight year old Marjorie Price did a daring and brave thing. She bought a ticket on a transatlantic ship to Paris, third class. Alone. Her family and friends (who call her Midge) are shocked and dismayed. Young ladies just don't DO that in 1960. But Midge is determined. She is an artist, a painter, and Paris is where artists are nurtured, taught, inspired.
Of course, she meets a man. Fellow artist, and native Frenchman, Yves sweeps Midge off her feet and they are soon married. They are very happy together and have a beautiful daughter, Danielle. After a couple of years they begin looking for a summer place. A little cottage in the country by the sea where they can escape the bustle of Paris and paint in peace.
Yves finds a place he says is perfect. An ancient farm house and other buildings that make up half of a tiny hamlet in Brittany. Spartan and without any modern conveniences, it is far from what Midge had in mind. But he is insistent and she is forced into the purchase of La Salle.
At first living conditions are rough but the place works its charm and they begin to fix it up. Midge meets her neighbors, among them Jeanne, a peasant woman nearing seventy who lives in a cottage with no running water or plumbing, has never ridden in a car, eaten in a restaurant, watched television, talked on the telephone, or even been farther than a few miles from her home.
Over the next few years, Yves' personality begins to change radically. As her marriage disintegrates, Jeanne becomes the closest friend that Midge has ever known, they form a bond of friendship that transcends their differences in culture, age or language.
I loved this book. It is a wonderful, loving tribute to a special woman who was the product of a dying way of life. Even during the years she lived at La Salle, Midge saw beautiful old stone farms being bulldozed to make room for pre-fab houses. The peasant life the Jeanne endured is completely gone now. While the country life may seem like an idyll, the author makes clear that Jeanne's life was one filled with back breaking labor and a paucity of sentiment.
This is a story that is at once heartwarming and heartbreaking. Here is a peek at a European way of life that endured for centuries and then completely died out in a few decades. It is one of the best memoirs that I have ever read and I highly recommend it. It would be an excellent choice for book clubs.
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