Review: Sunflowers

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Rachel Courteau was a prostitute in Arles, France in the late 19th century and in a chance encounter, she met Vincent van Gogh, thus beginning a two year relationship with him.  Theirs was an odd relationship since she was a prostitute and he was fighting mental illness.

Sunflowers by Sheramy Bundrick is told from Rachel’s perspective and follows her relationship with Vincent from his time in Arles to Saint Rémy to Auvers with the latter parts of their relationship shown through their correspondence.  I was drawn into this book very quickly because I was fascinated with Vincent van Gogh and his relationships with his brother and with Paul Gauguin.  The end of the book was a little slower for me because Vincent had left Arles and he wasn’t as involved in the story – I wanted more of Vincent and less of Rachel.  I really liked Vincent – he comes across as a kind, artistic, sympathetic man who loved his art, his family and children.  He was frustrated because of his dependence on his brother and his lack of success.  Rachel is also kind, but I didn’t always understand her motivations.  Ultimately, this is a love story and I liked it but didn’t love it.

Sheramy Bundrick has included an author’s note in the back of the book.  In her research, she discovered that in his famous “ear incident”, Vincent van Gogh took the fragment of his ear to a brothel and asked for Rachel.  There is really nothing known about Rachel, so her parts of this story are purely fiction.  The parts involving Vincent are based on fact and are presented as historically accurate as possible, but this is a work of historical fiction.  You can listen to an interview of Sheramy on Blog Talk Radio.

Review copy provided by Book Club Girl.   I am an Amazon Associate.

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Tags: Books, Sunflowers, Vincent van Gogh, Sheramy Bundrick