47North Publishing, December 1, 2015.
Four Stars
Moving between three timelines, this novel explores
the power of art and creativity in our lives. It is also about the connections
between people throughout history, and the ways that art can connect us across
time. The reader is witness to three very different, yet equally close family
units, and the ways they communicate using art.
There are elements of historical fiction and sci-fi, but the novel is
overall literary in form, with other elements used sparingly.
In fifteenth-century Italy, the painter Paolo Uccello
teaches his trade to his daughter, Antonia. As it is unusual for a woman at the
time to work on her own creative pursuits, he finds a place for her in a
nunnery so that she can continue to paint. Her work goes largely unnoticed for
many centuries, until a portrait of her mother is rediscovered in the future.
In present day London, another painter lives with his
daughter, Toni. He is a copyist by profession, and the two of them travel to
China where he is commissioned to copy a Uccello battle painting. In the third
setting, Toniah is an art historian in the 22nd-century – her job is
to discredit male artists such as Gauguin, and elevate female artists instead.
Upon finding Antonia Uccello’s work, she works to put the young female artist
in the spotlight, creating some controversy.
As I first began to read this novel, I thought it
would be similar to another that I recently read: Girl Reading, by Katie Ward. They both use interconnected stories
spanning history and reaching into the future, in order to discuss feminist
revisionist art history. Both books conclude with a futuristic art historian,
looking back at the past and rewriting history to fill in the cracks that
female artists have fallen through. However, the two novels are also very different,
and I especially found that Sleeping
Embers has much more depth of character, which makes the writing feel more
immersive than jumping from story to story in Girl Reading. Ward’s book travels chronologically through history,
while Charnock’s is written in short chapters that jump between time periods –
the style was hard to get into, but once you do, it really works well.
A major theme of two of the three settings is strong
father-daughter relationships, in which the artist father teaches his child to
see the world with an artists’ eye. However, in 2113, Toniah was born using
parthenogenesis – a method of impregnating the mother without using a male
donor. I felt that the author was making a very strong point here, but it just
didn’t quite come together. In fact, that was my main problem with the novel
overall – there were so many diverse subjects explored, that some of them may
not have been developed fully. This led me to spend a lot of time considering
the author’s motivation as I read, and I think ultimately she is advocating for
balance as we rewrite history with a feminist slant.
Each time period has a very distinct setting and each
of the three women (Antonia, Toni, Toniah) have a clear voice to express their
viewpoint in the world they live in. With three women telling three stories, I
couldn’t help comparing the novel to a tryptich – three paintings that stand
alone, yet are enhanced when viewed together. There was so much to see here,
and so much left up to the reader’s imagination, that I get the feeling I
probably missed out on so many other connections. Although, with such an abrupt
ending, I also can’t help but wonder if there is a sequel yet to come.
Regardless, this novel was thought-provoking, and I recommend giving it a try.
I received this novel from Netgalley and 47North
Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
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