The Vow
A Novel
1st Edition
Published on 15. October 2024
368 pages
978-1-64742-789-4 (ISBN)
Description
In a stunning work of feminist historical fiction for readers who loved Dawn Tripp's Georgia and Whitney Scharer's The Age of Light, Jude Berman brings painter Angelica Kauffman to life.
Accused of dressing as a boy to study in the prestigious galleries of eighteenth-century Italy, child prodigy Angelica Kauffman has set high goals for herself. She is determined to become a history painter, a career off-limits to women. To ensure her success, she has vowed never to marry.
When a new patron invites her to London, Angelica befriends famous artists, paints portraits of Queen Charlotte and other royalty, and becomes a founding member of the Royal Academy. While still in London, an alluring but mysterious Swedish count makes her an offer that may be too tempting to resist. Then, upon returning to Italy, she meets Wolfgang von Goethe.
Time and time again, Angelica faces the insurmountable obstacles and great personal sacrifices that come with being an independent woman. The vows she makes, big and small, are repeatedly challenged. Will she break free from the traditional male/female binary and the many oppressive social dictates of her time and learn to "paint with her soul" . . . or is a vow of a different sort necessary if she is to answer the deepest call of her heart?
Accused of dressing as a boy to study in the prestigious galleries of eighteenth-century Italy, child prodigy Angelica Kauffman has set high goals for herself. She is determined to become a history painter, a career off-limits to women. To ensure her success, she has vowed never to marry.
When a new patron invites her to London, Angelica befriends famous artists, paints portraits of Queen Charlotte and other royalty, and becomes a founding member of the Royal Academy. While still in London, an alluring but mysterious Swedish count makes her an offer that may be too tempting to resist. Then, upon returning to Italy, she meets Wolfgang von Goethe.
Time and time again, Angelica faces the insurmountable obstacles and great personal sacrifices that come with being an independent woman. The vows she makes, big and small, are repeatedly challenged. Will she break free from the traditional male/female binary and the many oppressive social dictates of her time and learn to "paint with her soul" . . . or is a vow of a different sort necessary if she is to answer the deepest call of her heart?
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Jude Berman grew up amid floor-to-ceiling shelves of books in many languages, with refugee parents who instilled in her a deep appreciation for cultural diversity and social justice. She has a BA in art from Smith College and an EdD in cross-cultural communication from UMass Amherst. After a career in academic research, she built a freelance writing and editing business and ran two small indie presses. She lives in Berkeley, California, where, in her free time, she volunteers for civic causes, paints with acrylic watercolors, gardens, and meditates. She blogs at https://judeberman.substack.com.
