Featured Book: Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland

Sara Trucksess

Written with an artist’s eye for color and detail, Lisette’s List: A Novel by Susan Vreeland offers the reader a delightful sensory experience through the ochre-colored hills of Provence and a peek into its artistic soul. Peppered with real-life artists and paintings amid a cast of comically-enticing country characters, this gentle but compelling story is joyful even in the face of adversity.

Following the path of an Odyssean journey, the title character, an art loving ingenue named Lisette, moves unwillingly to Provence while still pining for the artistically rich streets of her native Paris. Bequeathed with seven important paintings by Cezanne, Pissarro and Picasso, Lisette becomes the guardian of these works’ fascinating stories while simultaneously receiving a hands-on education in the prideful artistic patrimony of Provence. Part wartime love story and part caper, this sweet little novel acts almost as a tableau itself, with Vreeland skillfully painting the characters into focus …