A Gift From Brittany by Marjorie Price is a great memoir about an artist, mother, wife, and friend. Although these titles do conflict at times in her life. Her husband, an artist from Paris sweeps Marjorie off her feet and off to the remote countryside village in Brittany, France.
The move from Paris to their run down 1/2 of hamlet (basically a small village in itself) was a hard transition for Marjorie. There was a lot of restoring to do before they would have any of the comforts they were used. Slowly it became clear that her husband demanded the artist spotlight. He expected Marjorie to raise their young daughter and nurture his art career and turn her back on her own lifelong dream of being an artist.
While her relationship weakened between her and her husband another relationship was growing. Marjorie's friendship with a elder neighbor, who seemed to exist completely in the distant past, taught her how to fight for her own future.
I found two main messages in this memoir. 1) You have to follow your heart when it comes to living out your dreams, and 2) Life is a delicate balance between what you want to have and what you must let go of.
Ms. Price works with watercolors mostly, but also showcases some beautiful acrylics. Her artwork is currently on display from April 3 through April 24, 2010, at the
Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center40 South Carroll Street, Frederick, Maryland.
If you would like more information or to take a look at some of her pieces you can stop by her website http://www.marjorieprice.com/ .
Thanks for coming by today's Memoir Monday featuring artist and author Marjorie Price.
Kristin : )
* This memoir was sent to me by a publicist. No money or promise of a positive review was exchanged. All opinions are my own.
Kristin, what a pleasure it was to read your reviewl of my memoir, "A Gift from Brittany." It is so insightful and zeros in on exactly what the book is about. I think an author often writes a memoir to better understand parts of his or her life. That was certainly my case. Writing the book revealed to me how incredibly important my friendship was with the elderly peasant woman, and how it was so much more nourishing and lasting than my romantic adventure with an exciting French artist.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite books and a gift to anyone who reads it! so glad to see it here!
ReplyDeleteMarjorie, thank you for stopping by to comment. I know how busy you are with your art show, which I hope is going well. It really was all my pleasure to review A Gift From Brittany. Your story is inspirational.
ReplyDeleteStephanie, thank you also for stopping by. I loved this book myself & agree that it is a gift for anyone to read.
This sounds intriguing and 2 good things to realize.
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