I Always Loved You: A Novel

by Robin Oliveira Narrated by Mozhan Marnò

Overview

A novel of Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas's great romance from the New York Times bestselling author of My Name Is Mary Sutter

The young Mary Cassatt never thought moving to Paris after the Civil War to be an artist was going to be easy, but when, after a decade of work, her submission to the Paris Salon is rejected, Mary's fierce determination wavers. Her father is begging her to return to Philadelphia to find a husband before it is too late, her sister Lydia is falling mysteriously ill, and worse, Mary is beginning to doubt herself. Then one evening a friend introduces her to Edgar Degas and her life changes forever. Years later she will learn that he had begged for the introduction, but in that moment their meeting seems a miracle. So begins the defining period of her life and the most tempestuous of relationships.

In I Always Loved You, Robin Oliveira brilliantly re-creates the irresistible world of Belle Époque Paris, writing with grace and uncommon insight into the passion and foibles of the human heart.

Editorial Reviews

JUNE 2014 - AudioFile

Robin Oliveira recreates the era of the Belle Époque, imagining the intertwining lives of artists Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas. Narrator Mozhan Marno quietly demonstrates perfect pronunciation of French places and names. Cassatt was unlike all the other artists of the period—an American and a woman, and an unmarried one at that. Professionally, Degas was Cassatt’s mentor. But personally? Oliveira imagines what their forty-year association might have been. Marno gently renders the complicated inner life of Cassatt with her difficult and unwell family, professional anxiety, and, especially, occasional romance and frequent infuriation with Degas. Marno distinguishes Degas by adopting a light French accent, but it’s still difficult to keep straight all the other famous characters—Morisot, Manet, Monet, Zola, and Abigail May Alcott—who populate the story. A.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

12/09/2013
In her second novel, Oliveira (My Name Is Mary Sutter) expertly draws us into the life of another famous Mary—this time in 1877 Paris, where a revolution is underway in the art world, as a few renegade painters snub (and are snubbed by) the juried exhibitions at the Paris Salon, which were then organized by the Académie des Beaux-Arts. American painter Mary Cassatt has just moved to the City of Light, not to fall in love, but to pursue her dream of becoming an artist, and she longs to get the academy’s stamp of approval. But a chance meeting with Edgar Degas, one of the leading impressionist-era rebels, changes the course of her career and life. Though it’s never been proven that the two painters were lovers, Oliveira explores the next 40 turbulent years of their relationship, and what might have been, crafting a tale of inspiration, desire, and restraint between two great artists of the 19th century. (Feb.)

From the Publisher

In smart and supple prose….Oliveira’s lively work illuminates these ambitious artists and rings true in the way the best fiction can.”—The Seattle Times

“[This] book is accomplished and well-researched….Although sometimes [Degas and Cassatt] are completely alienated, they remain linked through their art and love.”—Kirkus

“[Oliveira]’s illuminating portrayals of the inner lives of artists—Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot and Édouard Manet—are beautifully colored and as richly detailed as the paintings for which they are celebrated.”—The Chicago Tribune

“Oliveira has woven a rich tapestry of the artists’s life in Belle Époque Paris, in a close, intimate rendering.”—Library Journal

“Art lovers will fall for this story full of beautiful details about the world of the Impressionists in Belle Époque Paris.”—Examiner.com

“I Always Loved You is a beautifully composed — and extensively researched — blend of art history, vintage travelogue and good storytelling.”—Dallas Morning News

“Emulating the powers of observation and expression possessed by the artists she so vividly and sensitively fictionalizes, Oliveira illuminates with piercing insight the churning psyches of her living-on-the-edge characters. This is a historically and aesthetically rich, complexly involving, and forthrightly sorrowful novel of the perilous, exhilarating, and world-changing lives of visionary artists breaking new ground and each other’s hearts.”—Booklist

Library Journal

12/01/2013
Paris in the mid-to-late 19th century was the place to be if you were an artist, especially an artist trying to shake up the stodgy traditional art institutions. It was the beginning of impressionism, a movement whose birth was quite painful for all involved. Oliveira's (My Name Is Mary Sutter) new novel purports to be about the decade-long, convoluted, and complicated relationship between Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas, yet it encompasses so much more—the relationships among other luminaries of the period, the difficulty of being a single woman and an artist in a harsh and often unforgiving male-dominated world, and the complexities of dealing with family. VERDICT Oliveira has woven a rich tapestry of the artist's life in Belle Époque Paris, in a close, intimate rendering rather than a grand, sweeping landscape. Readers who enjoy historical fiction set in this time period will enjoy the novel, as will those who like fictionalized accounts of historical figures.—Pam O'Sullivan, Coll. at Brockport Lib., SUNY

JUNE 2014 - AudioFile

Robin Oliveira recreates the era of the Belle Époque, imagining the intertwining lives of artists Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas. Narrator Mozhan Marno quietly demonstrates perfect pronunciation of French places and names. Cassatt was unlike all the other artists of the period—an American and a woman, and an unmarried one at that. Professionally, Degas was Cassatt’s mentor. But personally? Oliveira imagines what their forty-year association might have been. Marno gently renders the complicated inner life of Cassatt with her difficult and unwell family, professional anxiety, and, especially, occasional romance and frequent infuriation with Degas. Marno distinguishes Degas by adopting a light French accent, but it’s still difficult to keep straight all the other famous characters—Morisot, Manet, Monet, Zola, and Abigail May Alcott—who populate the story. A.B. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2013-10-20
Oliveira (My Name is Mary Sutter, 2011) draws from research and imagination to recreate the years when two impressionists--Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas--engaged in an on-again, off-again relationship. Cassatt, the daughter of well-to-do Philadelphians, is a determined woman whose first stay in Paris is interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War. Following her return and mild success with portraiture, she's ready to pack her brushes and leave France behind a second time after her submission to the Paris Salon exhibition is rejected. However, an arranged meeting with admirer Degas and his invitation to exhibit with a group of independent artists are all the incentives Cassatt needs to stay. Although the relationship is often contentious, and Degas' promises leave much to be desired, Degas introduces Cassatt to his inner circle of friends, a socially prominent group that includes writer Émile Zola and artists Édouard Manet and his paramour, Berthe Morisot, who's married to Manet's brother, Eugene. Degas, frustrated with increasingly poor eyesight and possessing a cruel and insensitive demeanor, becomes Cassatt's mentor and, at times, tormentor. Often at odds, they send missives back and forth. Cassatt discovers a passion for vivid colors and embarks upon a productive period painting women and children; Degas studies the human form and strives to replicate his observations in his paintings and other renderings of ballerinas. Although sometimes they're completely alienated, they remain linked through their art and (although Degas is almost loath to admit it) love. The book is accomplished and well-researched, but the relationship between Cassatt and Degas isn't as engaging as the secondary story: the love affair between Morisot and Manet. Readers may come away with little understanding of what made Cassatt and Degas click; nevertheless, they'll gain a better understanding of impressionism.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169294422
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	02/04/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

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