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Barbara Corrado Pope
Barbara Corrado Pope fell in love with the art,
landscapes and people of
Provence
while teaching French, women’s and religious history to American
students in
Avignon
. Among the many places she led lecture-tours were
Aix-en-Provence
, where she followed in Cézanne’s footsteps, from the hidden depths
of the Bibémus Quarry to his sunny studio at Les Lauves on the
outskirts of town.
She has a PhD in the Social and Intellectual
History of Europe from
Columbia
University
and has taught history and women’s studies in places as diverse as
Hungary
,
Tuscany
, the
University
of
New Mexico
, and
Harvard
Divinity
School
. Her longest stint was at the
University
of
Oregon
, where she was the founding director of women’s studies.
Cézanne’s Quarry is her first novel. She was born and raised
in
Cleveland
,
Ohio
. After taking early retirement, she continues to reside in
Eugene
,
Oregon
, where she is completing her second Bernard Martin mystery. The
Blood of Lorraine is set in another place she has grown to love,
Nancy
,
France
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CEZANNE’S QUARRY
A NOVEL
by Barbara Corrado Pope
A young woman is found murdered. . .
and the clues to her death point to her spurned lover, Paul Cezanne
In this richly
atmospheric novel, a mysterious young woman named Solange Vernet arrives
in Aix-en-Provence with her lover, a Darwinian scholar named Charles
Westbury, and a year later is found strangled in a quarry outside the
city. The young and
inexperienced magistrate, Bernard Martin, finds his investigation caught
in the crossfires of a raging cultural debate.
Initially assuming that Solange’s murder was a simple crime de
passion by either a jealous Cezanne or a betrayed Westbury, Bernard
soon finds himself on a mission to unravel the secrets of Solange and
Cezanne’s hidden past—the key to which may be a series of his
paintings which depict the strangulation and violation of a woman with
golden-red hair.
Exploring the questions
of science and religion—and the role of women in these realms—that
persist even today, Cezanne’s
Quarry is an impressive debut mystery about life, death, love,
and art.
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Booklist
(partial review)
In
fewer than 400 pages, first-time novelist Pope skillfully explores the
subjugation and abuse of women in the nineteenth century; the injustices
of the French legal system; the conflict between Darwinian philosophy
and established religious belief; and Cezanne’s art, love life, and
depressed personality. She also weaves a fascinating murder mystery into
these diverse thematic threads, forming an intriguing portrait of the
painter’s life in
Provence
and how others might have perceived him.
Publisher’s Weekly
(review)
Could Paul Cezanne be a killer? That’s one of the
disturbing prospects confronting novice magistrate Bernard Martin in
August 1885 as he starts to investigate the murder of Solange Vernet, a
recent transplant from
Paris
whose brutalized remains are discovered near a favorite haunt of the
painter’s outside Aix, in Pope’s provocative debut.
Was the free-thinking beauty with the flame-colored locks slain
by her lover, self-professed Darwinian scholar—and likely scam
artist—Charles Westbury, as Martin’s boss contends, or by a smitten
Cezanne? Martin quickly
recognizes that the case could be a career-maker—or breaker—if he
antagonizes the artist’s powerful family without overwhelming
evidence. Pope animates her
canvas with plenty of vivid period detail…Francophiles and history
buffs will find much to like. –Publisher’s
Weekly
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In
bookstores
and Amazon.com June 11, 2008
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Cezanne’s
Quarry
Author: Pope,
Barbara Corrado
Publication Date:
6/11/2008
- Publisher: Pegasus
- ISBN: 978-1-933648-83-5$25.00
• 384 pages
• Hardcover
• 978-1-933648-83-5
• Mystery •
Pegasus Books
Coming
Soon: www.CezannesQuarry.com
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