Description
Hendrickje, a girl from a strict Calvinist family, leaves her provincial home to find work as a housemaid. She enters Rembrandt's flourishing workshop five years after the death of the great artist's wife, an event that continues to haunt him. It is a house full of secrets and desires, and Hendrickje soon witnesses a sexual encounter between Rembrandt and Geertje, his implacable housekeeper. She is shocked to the core by their intense carnality and yet, slowly, she is drawn to Rembrandt by the freshness with which he perceives the world and the special freedom he seems to possess.
Rembrandt is a man of dark corners, strange passions and a ruthlessness born from his need to put his art first. An involvement with him could be her ruin or her liberty.
Rembrandt's Mirror explores the three women of Rembrandt's life, and the towering passions of the artist, seen through the eyes of his last great love, Hendrickje.
A stunningly imagined debut novel about the turbulent world of the master painter Rembrandt and the three women who shaped his life, seen through the eyes of his last great love and muse - a lowly housemaid.
About the Author
Kim Devereux is an award-winning short-film director and producer of documentaries. Kim holds an MA in History of Art and English Literature from the University of Edinburgh and an MA from Bath Spa in Creative Writing. www.kimdevereux.co.uk
Reviews
Laced with painterly description and art theory ... a powerful and compelling story. * Sunday Telegraph *
The relationship between the painter and the young servant develops into a moving affirmation of the importance of love in the face of the mortality that Rembrandt reflects in his art. * Sunday Times *
An impressively detailed and emotional read. * Daily Mail *
This commendable debut does for Rembrandt what Girl With A Pearl Earring did for Vermeer. * Mail on Sunday *
Rembrandt's Mirror provides a powerful portrait of a genius * BBC History Magazine *
Characters are fully drawn and empathetic and Devereux uses words like watercolours - her descriptions are vital and give the book an authenticity that transports the reader back to the 1600s. * Buzz Magazine *
Book Information
ISBN 9781782396741
Author Kim Devereux
Format Hardback
Page Count 400
Imprint Atlantic Books
Publisher Atlantic Books
Weight(grams) 637g
Dimensions(mm) 218mm * 160mm * 37mm