Best Read this Summer

Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth 

 By http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78455, Fair use

I think I was in high school when I first saw this painting by Andrew Wyeth. Due to the dry landscape and lack of trees, I assumed that the location was somewhere in the prairies or Midwest US. The Depression era also came to mind from the style of the woman's dress. I knew there must be a "story" here but being a teenager there was little chance that I would actually do the research to find out what it was.
Later, as I studied art history and as an art teacher, I discovered more of Wyeth's art work and his fascination with the Olsen family and their property in Cushing Maine. (Coastal Maine …. not the prairies!) The woman in the painting was inspired by Christina Olsen, a neighbor who lived near where Wyeth and his wife Betsy used to stay every summer. Christina was stricken with a disorder that made walking and simple tasks increasingly difficult.
I used to show a reproduction of this painting to my students and ask them to write a paragraph or short story about it. Needless to say the adolescent imagination provided a lot of wild tales! However, I was amazed at how many, having noticed the frailty of the woman's arms and the imprint of her dragged body in the grass. were not that far from the real story.

A Piece of the World

by Christina Baker Kline

Goodreads

In my search for a good read this summer, I happened upon Christina Baker Kline's A Piece of the World. I had just finished Orphan Train, by the same author and enjoyed it, …… and, it was available at our local library! 

While Christina Olsen was a real person, the work is historical fiction. I'm not sure if it was my familiarity with the painting, or the fact that I have been to Maine many times that piqued my interest. While her life (in the novel) was sad, I enjoyed reading about her strength of character and intelligence. Christina Olsen; a plain, crippled woman descended from seafarers and a magistrate involved in the Salem witch hunts; Christina Olsen who has a touching romance for four summers with a Harvard student; Christina Olsen who is a muse for one of America's most famous artists. Definitely my best read so far this summer!