June Book Club - The Gallery of Vanished Husbands

I enjoyed this book, I loved the threads that were woven together to make a tapestry of life in the 60's/70's when I was young and starting a family. I agree that some of the references were a little contrived but well researched and accurately placed (I don't think Hockney would mind!)

The book revived lots of memories of that time for me - clothes, hairstyles (the awful curly perm), debates about contraception and the changing role of women, rebellion against religion and doctrines, and particularly for me the music and Art.

Co-incidently I had a very strong Grandma called Rosie who safely delivered me into this world at her house! I was also an art student in the 60's but unlike Juliet I put my children before painting.

I would like to ask Natasha how she captured such a strong essence of the 60/70's period, did she draw on personal experiences of friends and families?
Also who is her favourite artist and what is her favourite piece of art?
Thanks for the opportunity to read this thought provoking book.

Am I allowed to say that I did not enjoy the book.
I paticularly found the reference to David Hockney a little contrived, I do wonder what he would say were he to find out!
There were too many happy (and not so happy) coincidences: Tickets to America; Max, a known recluse, offering classes at his cottage; saving money to buy out/repay investors: the retiurn of the stolen portrait: to list a few.
I did enjoy, however, a glimpse into the family life of Juliet but wonder how typical that was, even in the 60s.
I note that the response to the novel has been positive. Let that put my negativity in context so please don't stop sending me 'the book of the month' from time to time.

I'm agreeing with gardener about the descriptions of the art studio from the story you can smell the paint and turps etc,and can conjur up a picture of a "loft-type" studio full of eisels and paintings.This is not the type of book I would usually read but I can not put it down now and still have a couple of chapters to read I am finding it very heartfetching and a totally different way of lifestyle that I expected from when I first started reading it.
My questions would be to Natasha :
Are you at all thinking of expanding this family story into other books.
Many thanks for the opportunity of allowing me to read this book.

I really enjoyed this book. Like others I would have liked a short Yiddish glossary to explain the words in italics.
I was impressed with the descriptions of the paintings, the gallery and the artists.

My questions for Natasha are:-

Have you any connection with someone who runs an art gallery?
Perhaps you are a painter yourself ?
Have you ever sat to have your portrait painted ?
Do you think you would like to have your portrait on the wall of your house?

I'm sure that it must have meant a lot to your husband and family to read a novel based on the life of Grandmother Rosie. A lovely idea.

I'm now intrigued enough to have put it on my Amazon wish-list. I am stocking up on Kindle for my month away.

A lovely book, beautifully descriptive with a quirky story line, I also liked that it was inspired by a strong and special lady. I have no questions, just thank you for a good story and I look forward to future books.

Thanks, Cari. Actually The Deaths is one I would have definitely chosen for myself, so I'm hoping to be lucky enough to bag a copy!

I enjoyed this book a lot - more than I expected to when I started off. It's well written and the story is captivating. Juliet unfolds as a woman who learns to cope on her own and forge her own career in the world in the face of the quite severe restrictions and expectations of her Jewish upbringing and community. She is the outsider who still yearns for the comfort of acceptance but can't quite conform because she's socially "tainted". Perhaps not sure of who she really is, the many portraits she collects of herself provide insight for her into how others see her.

I liked the device of making each chapter an exhibit/painting. Natasha paints graphic word pictures all the way through and I very much appreciated her writing - rich, colourful descriptions which helped me conjure up so many images in my mind as I read. Thank you for that. I also enjoyed the insider description of the traditional Jewish household/way of life, and was very moved by the author's note at the end. An inspiring grandmother who had passed on, but somehow lived in the story in the character of Juliet.

My question for Natasha is did you know anything about art, or have artisitic training or experience yourself before you started to write this book, or did you have to research/learn as you went along?

I'll certainly want to read more by Natasha having enjoyed this one so much. Thanks GN!

The way the book is structured is very clever, with each chapter listing the contents of an art exhibition like a gallery catalogue. I'd like to ask if Natasha considered including an actual picture at the start of each chapter? I must admit the first thing I did on seeing the references to paintings was to look them up on Google and was quite disappointed not to find them.
I enjoyed the book, but found it impossible to relate to Juliet.

Thank you so much for my copy of this great book which I have just finished reading, it was very thought provoking.
Like some of the others have said i did find myself feeling sorry for the children who seemed to be torn between the strict upbringing of their grandparents and Juliet. I wanted to shout at Juliet at times as she seemed more interested in art ( maybe as a way of escape) than her children.
I have read books in the past about Jewish communities so found it quite easy to identify with the characters and ways, really fascinating.

No question - I really enjoyed this book! Not the sort of book I usually read, being a Steven King, Dean Koontz etc fan, but one I was reluctant to put down and read in only a couple of days. Thank you!

Just started reading my copy and am really enjoying it. I'm finding it quite refreshing as it's so different from my usual type of book, and I need to get away from the crime genre from time to time. I love winning books because it gives me a chance to read something I probably wouldn't have chosen for myself, and more often than not, I do enjoy them.

Thanks, GN and Sceptre, for an interesting read. The storyline is an unusual one, and such a self-absorbed main character is a challenge to make sympathetic. I wonder whether Natasha Solomons hesitated about this aspect of Juliet, surrounded by her collection of portraits of herself, 'with not one of the usual snaps' of grandchildren or babies, in view of the fact that she had borrowed a real person, indeed her Grandmother-in-law, for the basis of the story? Some of that character had been shared with Mrs Greene, of course, so perhaps Rosie Solomons appears in parts in several characters, like George is there in the totality of portraits in Leonard's sketchbook.

I found the essential Jewishness very intriguing, though a very short Yiddish glossary would have been helpful. I thought I had worked out the meanings of the words, but may have been way off beam.

I found this book to be intensely moving. Juliet seemed to be left without an identity when her roguish husband disappeared. It was as though the portraits were a way of trying to find herself. When folk are asking why she didn't move away, I think she stayed as she needed the extended care and support of her family to help with her children (either that or cherry brandy!)A beautifully written book, this is the first book I have ever read by Natasha Solomons, I am going to look for more!

Thanks TriciaF the choir I sing with has a large Jewish contingent and I'll ask them. Many thanks.

I enjoyed the book, but didn`t really care much for the character of Juliet, or even Max. I was horrified at her keep going off through the woods to Max`s cottage, leaving her children alone in the middle of the night. As has been said, I think by Rosesarered, why on earth didn`t she leave her area and live elsewhere, where no-one knew of her circumstances?

I've ordered the book but haven't got it yet, so don't know if this is relevant.
Just want to add a very recent case in Israel about "chained wives".
This woman's husband had been in a coma for 7 years after a motor bike accident. She wanted a divorce (get) in order to remarry but this was refused because he hadn't/couldn't give consent. He isn't expected to come out of the coma.
At last some rabbis have found a way round the problem ( on a technicality of the law) and she will get her divorce. This is being opposed by some ultra-orthodox rabbis.
Frannygranny - if you want to know the meaning of hebrew terms I can probably help.

I really enjoyed it but like others I found I lost sympathy with Juliet as the story progressed. I felt her children were neglected and that she was very self-centred. I liked the Jewish aspect of the story but wish a glossary had been included. I'm going to try other books by Natasha Solomans.

I'm not sure I entirely understood Max's reasons for being so distant and not joining in at least some of the exhibitions or family and friends' events. I also found Juliet to be quite self-centred, dragging her kids off to California and accumulating all those portraits of herself. The impact on her children of her neglect of their aspirations didn't surprise me as her parents overrode her aspirations, too. The fact that she was Jewish was irrelevant for me, for much of the book - I had to keep reminding myself that this might be the reason her parents and relatives were not enamoured of her lifestyle and success with her gallery. The characters were all portrayed in a way that I didn't feel I could empathise either them, so when Tom's letter alerted them that he was going to take hoisown life, I felt no jolt of shock, or sympathy.

I'd like to ask Natasha - did you set out to keep the characters distanced from the reader? I found it an interesting book nonetheless and read it in four days. Are any more being written?

I finished the book last night and really enjoyed it. I started off feeling sorry for Juliet but as the story progressed she became more self-centred and some of the sympathy went. I did have tears in my eyes when Max died.

I notice that the story is roughly based on what happened to Natasha's husband's grandmother and would like to ask what Natasha's family's reaction was to the way the Jewish family and values were portrayed in the book.

I have finished reading the book now, it's the sort of unputdownable novel that I like to read. I liked Julia less and less though as the book went on.
She wasn't a good mother at all to either child.Poor Frieda even escaped into a marriage that wasnt right for her, as a way to fit in with her society and of being given love.The children were neglected in all kinds of ways.With it right under her nose, she didn't even see that Leonard wanted to be a painter.Juliet could have moved her family away, so they didn't have to live in a community that pitied them, why on earth didn't she? That question was asked [at the end by a grown up Leonard] but she gave vague enigmatic reasons.Juliet was a rather cold and even selfish character.She did mourn George, and she did love Max [another cold and enigmatic and selfish character.]However, she could be a hard person too, with the way she treated the other painters, especially Charlie, who she knew loved her.A strange woman too, as her own Father mused, who wanted a hundred portraits of herself all over the house, but no photos of her own children.Of course, no author has to make the central character entirely likeable, and I often found myself annoyed with her, which means that I felt fully engaged with the novel. People in real life are flawed after all.A great read, and I think that now I will re-read it in a month or so.

I couldn't put this book down, it is captivating. I headed for the computer with it in my hand to look up exactly what the Jewish terms were. I feel that I have learnt and absorbed information about the Jewish culture that I was never sure about before. So much so that I have had a go at making latkes today. Delicious. Natasha Solomons has the generation divide of the sixties to a tee. I loved the references to David Hockney too rosesarered I don't have any questions for Natasha that haven't already been asked but would like to say thank you for the book to both Natasha and Gransnet

I started my copy last night, and wasn`t sure if it was my thing, am halfway through it now, and loving it! Would have preferred it if Grannybug hadn`t given some of the plot away!

Thank you so much for my copy, it arrived yesterday. I look forward to reading it very, very soon. Just love the Gransnetters' book suggestions. I certainly have not had a single disappointment, the variety of books recommended is fabulous.