Review: The Gallery of Vanished Husbands

The Gallery of Vanished Husbands

By Natasha Solomons

Penguin August 2013
335 pages
From the library

Juliet Montague is living a life in the shadows. As a conservative Jew whose husband has left without a trace, she is an aguna - someone who cannot find love until her husband is found. When an artist asks to paint her portrait, Juliet finds a way into the art world of the 1960s. She uses her talent for spotting great works of art to open an art gallery. Juliet is a woman walking the line between her conservative, hard-working family and the fun and frivolous lives of her new friends. 

Natasha Solomons writes that she was inspired by her husband's grandmother, a real-life aguna. In conservative Judaism, a woman who was deserted was seen as a sort of outcast. She was not really a married woman, but was not permitted to seek a new relationship until her husband had officially divorced her. If said husband could not be located, the woman was forced to live life of waiting - waiting for permission, waiting for acceptance, and waiting for the freedom to move on with her life. 

Juliet is a window through which we see both the freewheeling world of artists and the strict world of conservative Judaism. Solomons brings both to life, giving them depth and compassion and making them seem like real people instead of caricatures. Unfortunately, Juliet herself is the least interesting character of the bunch. I wanted to spend more time with her artist friends and with her parents and children. Juliet herself falls flat. It's as if she is only a lens through which we view the other characters instead of a heroine in her own right.

The Gallery of Vanished Husbands is an interesting story. There is no doubt that Solomons is a gifted writer who can bring history to vivid life. Her appreciation for art and those who create it is especially evident in this story. But I wanted more from the characters. I wanted to really know the minor characters and I wanted to feel more for Juliet, a woman who defied convention to make her own happiness.

Other books by Natasha Solomons: The House at Tyneford

Review: The House at Tyneford

The House at Tyneford

By Natasha Solomons 

Plume December 2011

359 pages

From the library

So The House at Tyneford. Here is what I need to tell you about this book. I put the boy down for his rest time the other day, and settled down for a late lunch and a few pages. Before I knew it, the book was finished and it was two hours later. This book is excellent.

Elise lives a life of luxury in Vienna, with her opera singer mother, author father, and older sister. But their life of privilege will not last, because it’s 1938 and the Landau family is Jewish. Anna and Julian are determined to see that their children get out of the country safely.  Margot goes to America with her husband. Elise becomes a servant in an English manor house. She is put to work by the proper butler Mr. Wrexham and the housekeeper Mrs. Ellsworth. While Mr. Rivers is regal and aloof, his fun-loving son Kit soon becomes an unexpected friend. The residents of Tyneford are living on a precipice between the world they have known and the world that will come.

This book is amazing in a good, solid way. It’s a little bit predictable; there is neither magical realism nor ridiculous plot twists. It’s wonderful in the way that chicken noodle soup is good on a cold day – it’s smart comfort reading. That’s not to say that it's fluffy. There are so many issues at hand here. Perceptions of class and gender are rapidly changing during this time period and the war forces them to change even further. The residents of Tyneford are trying desperately to hold on to the things that they know, in spite of the inevitability of both war and change.

“I felt the shadows draw around the house. They went up with the blackouts while I was sleeping, but when Mrs. Ellsworth unfastened the blinds, the shadows remained. I had not realized that I had been living in Arcadia until it was time to leave. The horrid trick was that for the present we all remained, but the place shifted around us. The trees and lawns and shrubs were the same, and the house changed more slowly, but something was different. We did not know it then, but our lives at Tyneford had shifted key, and we were rushing toward our final movement, whether we were ready or not.”

The descriptions throughout are perfect. Ms. Solomons describes the English countryside, the manor, and the small village so that you feel like you have been there too. In the author’s note we learn that Tyneford is not a real place, but it is based on a real place that Solomons knew as a child. The characters are as rich as the landscape. Elise is a lovely protagonist. I wanted the book to be longer, so I could spend more pages with her. Each character encountered on these pages from the brusque Mr. Rivers to a local fisherman who lives in the village is nuanced.

People, read the book. It is amazing.