LOVING MODIGLIANI: The Afterlife of Jeanne Hebuterne
The historical person of Jeanne Hébuterne was a headstrong young girl with a big dream – to become a painter, almost unheard of in her time, when professional women artists were rare. Her meeting with the magnetic Modigliani plunged her into a love affair from which there was no untangling. She followed him to the death. That real-life tragedy is not the sole focus of Loving Modigliani, which is also the story of Jeanne's evolution in the afterlife, her unearthly reunion with Modigliani, and her transformation through time to the star status she enjoys today as an artist. Loving Modigliani is a genre-bending novel, blending elements of fantasy, historical fiction, gothic, mystery, and suspense.
New Book Trailer: Loving Modigliani
Published by Serving House Books
(2020) PARIS 1920 Dying just 48 hours after her husband, Jeanne Hebuterne—wife and muse of the celebrated painter Amedeo Modigliani and an artist in her own right — haunts their shared studio, watching as her legacy is erased. Decades later, a young art history student travels across Europe to rescue Jeanne's work from obscurity. A ghost story, love story, and a search for a missing masterpiece.
"A part fantastical ghost story, part romance focuses on Modigliani's lover…Brilliantly researched, imaginative cross-genre historical fiction…The book's inventive afterlife is as vividly drawn as the streets of Paris." --Kirkus Reviews
"A fine tribute to an artist forgotten for 100 years"-- Historical Novels Society
Genre: cross-genre historical fiction, magical realism, historical fantasy
Keywords: Gothic, Paris 1920, Artists in love, Women Artists, Montparnasse
Setting: Paris 1920/ the afterlife; Paris, Nice & Rome 1970; Venice 2021
Featured on MessyNessyChic.Com & on The DailyArt Magazine ... Reviewed by the Historical Novel Society Featured on Art in Fiction ... A Da Vinci Art Alliance Bookclub Pick... Reviewed in the Italian Insider ...
"Longing to visit Paris, but can't travel now? This book will take you there, bringing alive the streets and cafés of Montparnasse, the Marais, and the Île St-Louis in full multi-sensory detail — the history, clothes, sounds, smells, textures, and daily rhythms — of the past and present." – Meredith Mullins, Bonjour Paris.
4.9 STARS FROM INDIEREADER! INDIE READER APPROVED: LOVING MODIGLIANI: THE AFTERLIFE OF JEANNE HEBUTERNE is singularly unique and intensely ambitious and an utter joyride for any reader deciding to take the journey. ~Shari Simpson for IndieReader
"The three female narrators–the artist, the scholar and the curator–present three versions of one female energy, thus we never really know the names of anyone except Jeanne Hebuterne."--Shari Simpson IndieReader
"There is much to love about this novel: If you've heard only the abridged drama of Modigliani and Jeanne as star-crossed lovers who died too soon, you will gain a deeper perspective with the story now told. If you enjoy a compelling mystery, you will be swept in and will find that not all the puzzles will be easily solved. You will have to rouse your inner sleuth.If you want desperately to believe in the afterlife, the journey presented will give you hope. And if you are a supporter of the under-appreciated women artists of their time, you will applaud Lappin's choice of subject and you'll love the novel's ending." -- Meredith Mullins, Bonjour Paris.