INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“A must-read for anyone who loves history and art.” –Kristin HannahFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the smash bestseller Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting Christina’s World. “Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He … iconic painting Christina’s World.
“Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn’t like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won’t stay hidden.”
To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family’s remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead, for more than twenty years, she was host and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth, and became the subject of one of the best known American paintings of the twentieth century.
As she did in her beloved smash bestseller Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline interweaves fact and fiction in a powerful novel that illuminates a little-known part of America’s history. Bringing into focus the flesh-and-blood woman behind the portrait, she vividly imagines the life of a woman with a complicated relationship to her family and her past, and a special bond with one of our greatest modern artists.
Told in evocative and lucid prose, A Piece of the World is a story about the burdens and blessings of family history, and how artist and muse can come together to forge a new and timeless legacy.
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Well done! I have always loved the art of Andrew Wyeth, and this novel not only brought me into his world, it brought me into his most famous painting. A mesmerizing novel that I will always remember.
This is a gorgeously written book about the woman behind an iconic painting. Heartrending, haunting.
Beautifully written story of a woman whose history could have been entirely different and whose actual role, that of muse to Wyeth, should be better known. Gorgeous and interior and inspired by one woman’s remarkable, curtailed life, doing its overlooked subject justice.
A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
2017
I’d give it 3-1/2 stars.
I liked it and disliked it at the same time. It was well written and accomplished its goal of eliciting mixed emotions from me. As much as I felt conflicted for the protagonist I can ignore that it’s her story and not mine. I don’t have to agree with the character to validate the quality of the author.
What a difficult book at times to read. The main character, Christina Olson, is a stoic and stubborn woman who refuses any assistance or concern from others. Her suffering and depravity elicit strong emotions of sadness, pity, anger and apathy. What redeems the character to me is that I believe she was limited and restrained by her parents. A difficult family situation made worse by the decisions made to live a simple life.
I had to read some history about the book and the background story into order to fully understand and want to finish the book. On the surface the story feels to drag on in parts where you get tired of Christina describing how much pain and difficulty she endures daily.
It made me think about family traditions and culture, being able to endure difficult situations but also when do you ask for help or decide that he “old ways” aren’t so effective? There are many hopes and dreams that are denied until it’s too late to acknowledge what could have been. It reminds me that sometimes we can be the obstacle to our success and happiness in life.
Author Christina Baker Kline offers readers an interesting concept in A PIECE OF THE WORLD. Who is the women lying in the farm field in American Artist Andrew Wyeth’s famous painting “Christina’s World”?
The novel is a blend of deep research (described in the author’s Afterword) and creative license. Because the woman in Wyeth’s painting was real. She was Christina Olson, who lived in Maine where Wyeth (1917-2009) spent many summers.
Originally friends with the woman who would later become Wyeth’s wife, Christina ultimately became one of Wyeth’s muses. And he spent a great deal of time with her, at her farm, sketching and painting a variety of nearby rustic scenes.
Christina’s back story is not a happy one. An unusually intelligent and perceptive person, she is nevertheless limited by the same restrictions imposed on all women in the 20th century, when marriage and children were the essential measures of a successful life. Christina, however, is further limited by a degenerative nerve disease, though that does not seem in any way to alter her family’s expectations. Because Christina’s life is defined by years of physically-difficult and endless household drudgery.
Moving forward and back through time to piece together Christina’s story (and her evolving relationship with Wyeth), the author shows snapshots of missed opportunities, social slights, and self-imposed constrictions that shape Christina’s character. Along with her remarkable determination not to give in to her failing body.
It all sounds very powerful and dramatic, doesn’t it? But, unfortunately, I felt it came up short. I did not wind up liking Christina very much, though I certainly understood the reasons behind many of the resentments she carried. And though I believe the author was trying to show parallels between the way Christina and Wyeth saw the world, it didn’t quite work for me. So, not my favorite from this author.
I highly recomend this book to anyone who is a fan of the works of Andrew Wyeth or, like me, has Charcot-Marie-Tooth.
A Piece of the World was assigned by a book club I belong to. I didn’t expect to like it. I usually read for entertainment, escape, pleasure and knew those words did not describe this book. However, I love it and could not put it down.
Though the author states this is work of fiction, the main character, Christina Olson, is a real person, and so are many of the other characters. The story revolves around the unusual relationship between Christina and the famous artist, Andrew Wyeth. It’s complicated.
Very good, especially if art is one of your interests!
Beautifully written. I loved this novel and will forever feel haunted by Christina.
I love the way this book was written. The descriptive sentences are a joy to read. This book is based on a true story about the subject of Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World. I will definitely read more books by Christina Baker Kline.
An easy read but also thought provoking. Two tragic figures represent a very real picture in what was an isolated part of the world. Their tie to a very real, well-known artist add some fascination that makes this a book that calls to the reader to learn more. Very well written.
This was a “one read Lake Forest” selection that I enjoyed. It tells the story of Christina, Andrew Wyeth’s muse. I found it a very readable piece of historical fiction. http://mentalfloss.com/article/64001/15-things-you-might-not-know-about-christinas-world
Great ‘back story’ for the painting and the artist.
I will never look at Wyeth’s Christina paintings the same. Ignorance can be bliss. This is fiction, but even if only some of it reflects what really happened, it is a strange story. Fascinatingly weird.
Great new information about Wyreth
Good history.
An interesting take on near-real events with real-life persons told in novel fashion. Not chronological and it took a few chapters to get the hang of the non-linear story-telling.
I enjoy books that intertwine history with fiction.
Fiction story about Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World portrait. Very good. Life in Maine with a debilitating disease. Christina is forced to take care of family and deals with desolation and heartbreak.
an interesting piece of history