A Piece of the World: A Novel
A New York Times bestseller.
"Exquisite. A must-read.” --Kristin Hannah
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the smash bestseller Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting Christina’s World.
"Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn’t like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won’t stay hidden."
To Christina Olson, the entire world is her family farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. The only daughter in a family of sons, Christina is tied to her home by health and circumstance, and seems destined for a small life. Instead, she becomes Andrew Wyeth’s first great inspiration, and the subject of one of the best-known paintings of the twentieth century, Christina’s World.
As she did in her beloved bestseller Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline interweaves fact and fiction to vividly reimagine a real moment in history. A Piece of the World is a powerful story of the flesh-and-blood woman behind the portrait, her complicated relationship to her family and inheritance, and how artist and muse can come together to forge a new and timeless legacy.
This paperback edition includes a color reproduction of Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World, along with a Q&A with the author, and a bonus short story, “Stranded in Ice.”
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Community Reviews
296 pages
What’s it about?
Christina Olson lives on a small farm, in a remote town on the coast of Maine with her family. All her life she is seen only for her disability. In her middle years it seems that the bitterness may overtake her. About this time, she becomes acquainted with artist Andrew Wyeth. Eventually she will be the subject of one of the most well-known paintings of the twentieth century. In this novel Ms. Kline tells a story of what she imagines was behind this painting.
What did it make me think about?
This novel shows the progression of Christina from a young person with an unknown affliction, to a woman who struggles not to succumb to bitterness over her lonely life. This book made me think about how age changes all our perspectives.
Should I read it?
This was another novel whose inspiration was a painting. I have mixed feelings about this one…. I felt for Christina, but for much of the novel I just did not like her much. Her feelings for her friend Gertrude pretty much say it all, “Gertrude has become a stand-in for anyone who ever pitied me, didn’t try to understand me, abandoned me. She gives my bitterness a place to dwell.”
Quote-
“In truth, I can’t remember the last time anyone noticed my physical discomfort and did something about it. When you live on a farm, everyone is uncomfortable much of the time. Too cold, too warm, dirty, bone tired, banged up, injured by a tool or a hot grate- too pre-occupied to worry about each other.”
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