A chance meeting with a charismatic photographer will forever change Elizabeth’s life. Until she met Richard, Elizabeth’s relationship with Georgia O’Keeffe and her little-known Hawaii paintings was purely academic. Now it’s personal. Richard tells Elizabeth that the only way she can truly understand O’Keeffe isn’t with her mind—it’s by getting into O’Keeffe’s skin and reenacting her famous nude … nude photos. In the intimacy of Richard’s studio, Elizabeth experiences a new, intoxicating abandon and fullness. It never occurs to her that the photographs might be made public, especially without her consent. Desperate to avoid exposure—she’s a rising star in the academic world and the mother of young children—Elizabeth demands that Richard dismantle the exhibit. But he refuses. The pictures are his art. His property, not hers. As word of the photos spreads, Elizabeth unwittingly becomes a feminist heroine to her students, who misunderstand her motives in posing. To the university, however, her actions are a public scandal. To her husband, they’re a public humiliation. Yet Richard has reawakened an awareness that’s haunted Elizabeth since she was a child—the truth that cerebral knowledge will never be enough. Now she must face the question: How much is she willing to risk to be truly seen and known?
more
Is the price of discovering one’s true nature worth the cost?
Life goes on as normal for Elizabeth in her roles as mother, sister, wife, and co-worker. Elizabeth is fine with the status quo until a chance meeting in Tai Chi class turns her perceptions inside out. Elizabeth is no longer satisfied. Her eyes open to Georgia O’Keefe’s life and art…discovering her own womanhood and the price she’ll have to pay to discover her true self. The story centers on a woman who finds it difficult to conform to the restrictions imposed by society, like The Price of Rubies starring Rene Zellwiger.
What an uncomfortably beautiful story! If you’ve ever been in a relationship where you didn’t feel seen and desired, Queen of the Owls will resonate with you. Barbara Linn Probst’s protagonist, Elizabeth Crawford, is a high-achieving, intellectually-oriented woman whose inner self is neglected by her partner, unrecognized by her sister, and misused by the one man who sees and understands it. Despite this neglect and misuse, Crawford triumphs in unexpected ways.
Probst uses the intellectual and aesthetic exploration of paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe and photographs by Joseph Stiglitz as a medium through which to develop Crawford’s character and the story arc she follows. In beautiful prose, evocative and provocative scene construction, and dialogue (internal as well as between characters) that will feel familiar to so many readers, this book resonates in deep and meaningful ways.
That tingly feeling you get when you realize you’re reading a book that may have created a new subgenre. The edginess of a thriller meets lush literary prose at the threshold of the stodgy hypocrisy of academia. Queen of the Owls is the crash course in the art of Georgia O’Keefe that you either did or didn’t know you wanted, raising unsettling but quietly triumphal questions of whether there can be opportunity in catastrophe, whether art justifies overriding the boundaries of consent, and what are the limits of using intellect alone to define success and a woman’s right to self-determination.
Barbara Linn Probst’s debut novel, Queen of the Owls, is stunning: gorgeous prose highlighting a book about creativity, seeing and being seen. As a former photographer and artist, this book has everything needed to intrigue me: Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Steiglitz, painting, photography, art history, feminism, and the price a woman pays to be creative, to be all she was meant to be, to be seen as herself—not merely in the male gaze or a reflection of a man.
Elizabeth is an Art History Ph.D. candidate stuck in the rut of a marriage that never should have been. Her dissertation is on O’Keeffe’s time in Hawaii. Her feelings are chiseled open by an unusual relationship with a photographer, Richard Ferris. Together, they explore the seen and unseen, the whole and the fragment. With Ferris, she feels safe enough to reveal her innermost desires as they reproduce the photographs in which O’Keeffe posed for Steiglitz. When Ferris exhibits those photographs—without her permission—Elizabeth’s position at the university, her personal and professional reputations, and her very marriage are at risk. Despite the precariousness of her life at the moment, Elizabeth realizes that she is authentic, a fully-dimensional person. She stands at this rift in her life and must decide whether to leap across the void or to retreat.
This is an intimate, yet psychologically deep look at one woman’s attempts to balance love, life, children, and career—and above all, to liberate herself from the limits of her own expectations and to evolve.
Queen of the Owls is a story of Elizabeths journey of self discovery, acceptance and happiness.
I always love finding enjoyable stories where the characters are realistic and facing personal problems. In Queen of the Owls Ms. Probst does a fantastic job of bringing you into Elizabeth’s world and helping you to see through her eyes.
The story is fast paced and thought provoking.
I would recommend this story.
I recieved an ARC. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and honest.
This beautiful debut novel by Barbara Linn Propst is a look at a woman in transition in her life. Does she want to continue her life like it is or can she make changes and find happiness? The main character is so well written that her flaws and indecisions are apparent as well as her love for life. She is a complex but very real character and it’s fascinating to watch her transition through the novel.
I absolutely loved this novel and watching the main character as she makes changes and takes risks that affect her life using Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings and life as a road map. This is a wonderful book for lovers of the artist but more importantly a book that every woman should read about finding her true self – not only as a wife, mother, sister, friend but, most importantly, finding the true person at her center.
Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
A stunning, satisfying story about a woman struggling with her identities as an academic, wife, mother, and individual. I found this novel alluring and beautifully honest. With themes of gender roles, sexuality, consent, and self-love, I found this book very topical, too! Highly recommend.
So many women struggle with the issues addresses in this thoughtful and beautifully written novel, but to feel them through the eyes and life of Georgia O’Keefe was truly special. Not only did I enjoy an engrossing story with beautiful writing, I also learned about O’Keefe and her work.
The Queen of the Owls by Barbara Linn Probst came to my attention on Facebook’s Breathless Bubbles & Books page.
The main character, Elizabeth, struggles with her dissertation on Georgia O’Keefe, trying to connect her time in Hawaii as a transition point in her art.
Elizabeth’s marriage lacks physical passion and emotional intimacy. She finds herself attracted to a photographer and together they discuss O’Keefe and her modeling in the nude for Stieglitz. She accepts his challenge to recreate the photographs with him as a way of coming to better understand O’Keefe and her motivation for modeling, if she was a co-creator in the art.
Plot-wise, the novel felt inevitable and unsurprising. The real interest is in Elizabeth’s internal struggle for self-realization. She and her sister were early pigeonholed into narrow roles. Their husbands keep them confined to those roles, Elizabeth the ‘owly’ intellectual, her sister the fun and pretty one. Elizabeth is a good teacher and she believes in her work and can defend it. She has to learn to believe in her beauty, free herself to find real love, and take charge of her destiny.
Much of the novel’s space is centered on O’Keefe’s art and life, which I did enjoy.
The sexual issues are addressed with great honesty, from the marriage bed’s coolness to Elizabeth’s intense, unrequited attraction.
The novel is well written and an enjoyable read. Fans of women’s fiction, stories of young women’s self-actualization, or the art world will enjoy this one.
I purchased an ebook.
QUEEN OF THE OWLS by Barbara Linn Probst
A Review
Meet Elizabeth. Thirty-four years old, PhD candidate, University instructor, Tai chi student, wife, mother of two preschoolers, sister to a happily married hair stylist. Elizabeth logically and clearly defines her ambitions for a career in academia. Her dissertation on Georgia O’Keefe-the artist- is going well. Her perceptions of herself-her identity as a woman, wife and mother- are not so clear and not happy. She sees other wives intimately happy in their marriages and wonders what’s wrong with her. This uncertainty leads her into taking actions that have some unforeseen and troublesome consequences, even as she gains understanding in her dissertation subject and in her own identity.
Elizabeth could well be Everywoman. Her passion for her academic subject both in her research and in her teaching, her struggles with parenting, her attempts to ignite her marital relationship-all may well resonate.
At the very same time, Elizabeth, as each of us are, is uniquely herself. A mixture of intelligence, education, and vulnerable fragility. A loving mother, yet a bewildered wife.
It is near impossible to not walk with her through her journey of growth.
Queen of the Owls is delightfully multilayered. One layer presents a kind of private exhibition into Georgia O’Keefe’s life, as model and artist. Yes it is possible to learn a great deal about O’Keefe’s paintings while deep in this novel. Another layer offers a bit of the inner strengthening within Tai chi. One can learn at the least the names of some of the movements. Still a third layer to be peeled is the magic of desiring, being desired, and what we might do to achieve either or both. In a fourth layer lies whether our perceptions of ourselves, and others, are truths, or simply stories we tell ourselves. And woven throughout are myriads of symbolisms-colors in the art and in the Tai chi names, textures in the descriptions of the subjects painted and in the children’s clothing, how a model might see herself and how the artist -photographer or painter-sees the subject and defines his art. Even the title carries a symbol—for the reader to discover.
This novel is worth one, two and three readings. Highly recommended.
“Grace began from the inside, radiating outward.”
I was so looking forward to reading this book, and now that I’m done I can say I loved it and I hated it. I loved it because at it’s heart it is a story of becoming who you are. I hated it because I wanted to drop kick the main characters out a window for what happened.
And short of spoilers, I hope you’re interested enough to read it for yourselves. 5/5
Life in academia, feminism, motherhood, ethical dilemmas, choices and consequences, family relationships, and a revealing look at Georgia O’Keefe’s life and works, all come together in Queen of the Owls, Barbara Linn Probst’s beautifully written debut novel.
Caught in a marriage that didn’t just lose—but never had—its sizzle, PhD candidate Elizabeth defies the conventions that have always guided her life and embarks on journey of self-discovery that pushes her to make questionable choices with far-reaching consequences. Probst juxtapositions Elizabeth’s life with that of Georgia O’Keefe so perfectly that the artist is as much a character in the book as she is the topic of Elizabeth’s dissertation. A great read and perfect for book clubs.
I am very interested in 20th century painting and learned a lot about Georgia O’Keeffe reading The Queen of the Owls. And I got to do it with well-drawn female characters struggling with having it all…or not.
This is a book about finding yourself. Finding out who you really are and what you want in your life. Whether it’s to be a teacher, mother, wife, lover, business owner or something entirely different.
Elizabeth is going to college working on her dissertation on Georgia O’Keeffe. Through O’Keeffe’s paintings Elizabeth learns more about herself than she every thought possible. Meeting Richard at a Tia Chi class she learns to let go of her inhibitions and finding her own sexuality. But will it help her or hurt her? Can she make her husband see the things she needs or that they need to be truly a happily married couple. They have two beautiful children they both adore but Elizabeth does seem to do most of the nurturing and being there. Though she does take her time finally and leaves Ben to care for them when she needs him too. It was kind of silly in my opinion that she had to ask, when she should have just told him he was going to watch them while she went to a class or whatever she needed to do. After all, he is their father. He is a parent also.
Will the choices Elizabeth makes change her life or will she be treated fairly? If she was a man I’m thinking all would have been fine. People would not judge her or say what she did was wrong if she would have been male. Maybe, maybe not. You have to judge that for yourself.
Did Richard just use Elizabeth to further his career or was he sincere. Did his paintings help her to see herself as a complete woman who deserved more in life or did it hurt her? In my opinion she needed to learn who she was. That she was a desirable woman. I do not believe her and Ben should have ever married. They were to different. He didn’t seem to stand by her like a spouse should have. The desire was just not there. Though I think he believed he was a good husband, an in many ways he was, he still didn’t see her as an individual or as a beautiful woman. She was just: his wife, mother to their children, college teacher, graduate. He seemed to ignore her most of the time.
This book was beautifully written and presented in a way that makes you feel like you are there. In every sense of the word there. From the halls of a college to the home with the children. From the posing for pictures to worrying to much what others thought. I would love to believe that Richard did what he did for the right reasons not for his own selfish gain and maybe he did. It was a job after all. Elizabeth may or may not have done something wrong. In my opinion she did what she had to do. It’s truly a very good story of one woman’s journey at self discovery and finding that one thing that will help her in life. He own self worth and her own beauty.
I loved it from start to finish. Thank you Barbara Linn Probst for this ARC of your awesome book. I look forward to more of your work in the future. You sure started out with a great debut book!
It’s a 5 star from me and a highly recommended read.
I really love the concept of this novel—the narrator’s identification with a transitional period in Georgia O’keefe’s life—the romanticism of identifying with the artist and recognizing experiences from their mutual paths that would offer insights to the modern day main character, juggling her various roles under the weight of too many expectations she has assumed for herself, all of which mask a fundamental problem in her marriage, and her life, she’s been trying to avoid.
The best parts are when the scholar is “speaking” about O’Keefe, and when the scholar/teacher is teaching herself as she articulates her big questions to her students, and they push back. For this reader, this part of the story could have had more “on stage” time in the novel. Yet, the tale of how her two lives bleed into each other for both good and ill—including an extremely bold choice– offers much that readers will enjoy and find relatable.
An enjoyable, honest, page-turning woman’s story!
This novel grabbed me from the beginning, immersing me in a compelling series of events that would be chosen by and change an ordinary graduate student’s life and force her to become more and more honest with herself. The writing feels like floating deliciously down a clear mountain stream inside the mind and body of protagonist Elizabeth, including the realistic rocky sections. As Elizabeth tries to identify the main thesis in her art history dissertation on Georgia O’Keefe, the artist’s actions, reactions, and paintings guide Elizabeth into parts of herself that she hadn’t known existed, leading to a greater understanding of both women as well as an opportunity to reflect on our own life choices and opportunities. This is indeed a feminist tale, and like Georgia O’Keefe, reminds us that only we can interpret our own life.
I loved how we get to know Elizabeth from the inside out. Her character starts out feeling stiff and judgmental, and at first, and there were times I didn’t like her. However, I believe this was the author’s intention, because much of this time, Elizabeth didn’t seem to like herself either. As the story progresses, we watch her explore and transform in ways she never expected as she battles her internal self image and external forces that complicate her life.
I was drawn to this book because of the interesting title, the unique cover and because of it’s Georgia O’Keeffe connection. I really wanted to love it. However I just could not get there. Maybe because I couldn’t connect with the main character? Or, maybe it was because it got bogged down a little too much in the back and forth discussions and thoughts about the thesis she was writing about O’Keeffe? I do appreciate and was amazed at the amount of research Barbara Linn Probst did on the subject to write this book.
This book is both exquisite and devastating. It poses a question most women might ask themselves: how far will you go to be seen?
It is beautifully written, reflecting with honesty the flaws we assign to ourselves.
Queen of the Owls is not about Georgia O’Keefe, yet I gobbled up every reference. It’s not academic, yet I enjoyed lurking in the background of the politics that are just as prevalent in education as they are in business or government.
Any woman who has ever wondered what they would be willing to do to be wholly seen needs to read this book.
This beautifully written debut poses many questions women ask themselves, in particular, what it really means to be seen. Probst weaves the fictional story of Elizabeth with Georgie O’Keefe during the artist’s transitional period and, in her beautiful prose, she brings O’Keefe’s paintings and Stieglitz’s photography to light.
I found Elizabeth to be an irritating character, though that never stopped me from reading. It shows the author’s strength in creating characters that come alive on the page. At times, I wanted to smack Elizabeth, make her see how she was deceiving herself, lying to herself. By the end I championed her, as she came to understand who she truly was. She’s a wonderfully layered character who book clubs will enjoy discussing.