First published 2017
Christina Olson lives on her family's remote farm in Cushing, Maine, where generations of her relatives have worked the same land. Born into this isolated world, she faces increasing physical limitations from illness that confine her movements and narrow her prospects. Her small existence changes when artist Andrew Wyeth arrives and begins visiting the farm regularly. Over more than twenty years, Christina serves as both host and inspiration for Wyeth's work. She watches him observe her daily struggles, including the way she drags herself across fields when her legs fail her. Wyeth captures these moments in sketches and paintings, culminating in his creation of one of America's most recognized artworks. Christina must navigate her complex feelings about how Wyeth sees her and portrays her physical limitations. The relationship between artist and subject deepens as Christina grapples with her family's history, her own restricted world, and her unexpected role in creating art that will outlast them both.
Genres: art, american-fiction, 20th-century, biographical-fiction, 21st-century, disability
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Cushing, Maine
Period: 20th-century
309 pages · Hardcover · Mariner Books