Fiction by Marta Molnar
This story is about Johanna Bogner, the nineteenth-century Dutch woman who married Theo Van Gogh. Apparently she was the one who made sure Vincent Van Gogh's paintings weren't lost to the world. It's fairly common knowledge that Van Gogh's works went unappreciated during his lifetime; Johanna and Theo inherited the (ostensibly worthless) lot of them after Vincent's death. Then Theo himself died and left his wife with the paintings, along with a baby to raise and almost no money. It's amazing that she believed in the paintings' worth enough to expend time and energy getting them displayed.
The story is told through the vehicle of a modern woman called Emery who inherits Johanna's diary. I was very interested in learning about the history in this book, but found the modern part ( a straight romance) less compelling. Still, this was a good novel.
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