Amid an opulent society living under the shadow of war are four muses, women whose bodies were shown in intimate detail, depicted by the charming yet controversial artist Egon Schiele. Adele, his passionate and fierce admirer; Gertrude, his sister who survived their blighted childhood but is possessive, single-minded, and jealous; his mistress Vally, a poor young woman from a bad background but with steel at her core; and the two, very different, Harms sisters, Edith and Adele, both of whom vie to become Schiele’s wife.
Over the course of little more than a decade, the four women risk everything—their reputations, their most precious relationships, and their sanity and souls—as they try to hold on to the man they adore. As World War I throws their lives off course forever, and the Spanish influenza pandemic ravages Europe, threatening everyone in its path, one question remains: Will any of them emerge unscathed from their relationship with this man? Sophie Haydock’s The Flames reimagines the intertwining lives of these women: four wild, blazing hearts longing to be known. In an elegant Bohemian city like 1900s Vienna, everything seems possible. But just as a flame has the power to mesmerize, it can also destroy.
~ ~ ~
If it was the author's intent to bring this women to the fore to show how they influenced a debauched, narcissistic and misogynistic philanderer, then this really does not do it. All the women come off as similar - love becomes obsession before being callously discarded and abandoned for another woman. I felt no connection with any of them as they appear very one dimensional, and Egon Schielle himself I found repulsive in his depraved pursuit of very young women (girls even).
I did finish the book however, hoping to find some redeeming features, but left not really feeling it.
No comments:
Post a Comment