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Paint the Wind
Amid the brilliance of early twentieth-century Vienna, a young woman steps beyond the frame to claim her own life.
Maya Sircos, the daughter of a Greek shipping magnate and an Austrian aristocrat, has never quite belonged in the rarefied world of early twentieth-century Vienna. She moves uneasily through the drawing rooms of a society bound by tradition and appearance. But Vienna is shifting—intellectually and artistically—and Maya, drawn to the city’s avant-garde, finds herself at the center of a world in upheaval.
When she becomes the muse and scandalous obsession of a rising Expressionist painter, Maya is cast out by her family. Exiled to her grandparents’ home on the remote Greek island of Skiathos, she confronts the solitude imposed upon her. There, challenged by an unexpected encounter, she begins not to pose, but to paint.
To forge her own path, Maya must shatter expectations and confront a world unwilling to recognize the power of a woman’s vision.
A story of art, passion, and the will to create.
Maya Sircos, the daughter of a Greek shipping magnate and an Austrian aristocrat, has never quite belonged in the rarefied world of early twentieth-century Vienna. She moves uneasily through the drawing rooms of a society bound by tradition and appearance. But Vienna is shifting—intellectually and artistically—and Maya, drawn to the city’s avant-garde, finds herself at the center of a world in upheaval.
When she becomes the muse and scandalous obsession of a rising Expressionist painter, Maya is cast out by her family. Exiled to her grandparents’ home on the remote Greek island of Skiathos, she confronts the solitude imposed upon her. There, challenged by an unexpected encounter, she begins not to pose, but to paint.
To forge her own path, Maya must shatter expectations and confront a world unwilling to recognize the power of a woman’s vision.
A story of art, passion, and the will to create.
476 pages, Paperback
Published September 16, 2025
3 people want to read
About the author
Linda Cardillo
29 books46 followersLINDA CARDILLO is an award-winning author of historical fiction and historical romance. She writes about the old country and the new, the tangle and embrace of family, and finding courage in the midst of loss.
From the time she was in high school, Linda held in her heart the dream of writing the Great American Novel. But she was also brought up to know that she had to be “practical” and make a living. After graduating from college, she found a job as a secretary at a venerable Boston publishing house (barely passing the typing test). Within a year she had moved into an editorial position for college textbooks in the sciences and social sciences. It still wasn’t the Great American Novel, but she got to immerse herself in American intellectual and social history.
After earning her MBA from Harvard Business School—where she wrote comedy for the annual student musical and performed in a platinum blonde wig while seven months pregnant—she got divorced and gave birth. She then became circulation manager for the launch of Inc. magazine and got a crash course in magazine marketing. Unfortunately, she also crashed head-on into her boss and got fired a year after the magazine’s successful start.
Around this time she got an invitation to her tenth college reunion, signed up to attend and fell in love with a man she hadn’t seen since freshman year. On an excursion to a zoo, her son got carsick and threw up. This wonderful man calmly got him out of the car, cleaned him up and took him for a walk in the fresh air, and she knew she had a keeper.
Linda and the keeper moved to Germany for a few years with their children. While living in Europe, she received an unexpected gift of love letters that became the seeds for her first novel, Dancing on Sunday Afternoons.
Linda has been married for over forty years to the keeper, a brilliant scientist and sailor, and is the mother of three children of whom she is enormously proud. She loves to cook and is happiest when the twelve chairs around her dining room table are filled with people enjoying her food. She speaks four languages, some better than others. She tries to play the piano every night—sometimes by herself and sometimes in an improvisational duet with her younger son. She does The New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle in ink, a practice she learned from her mother. From her mother she also absorbed a love of opera, especially those of Puccini and Verdi, whose music filled her home when she was a child. She once climbed Mt. Kenya and has very curly hair. Linda and the keeper live in Western Massachusetts.
From the time she was in high school, Linda held in her heart the dream of writing the Great American Novel. But she was also brought up to know that she had to be “practical” and make a living. After graduating from college, she found a job as a secretary at a venerable Boston publishing house (barely passing the typing test). Within a year she had moved into an editorial position for college textbooks in the sciences and social sciences. It still wasn’t the Great American Novel, but she got to immerse herself in American intellectual and social history.
After earning her MBA from Harvard Business School—where she wrote comedy for the annual student musical and performed in a platinum blonde wig while seven months pregnant—she got divorced and gave birth. She then became circulation manager for the launch of Inc. magazine and got a crash course in magazine marketing. Unfortunately, she also crashed head-on into her boss and got fired a year after the magazine’s successful start.
Around this time she got an invitation to her tenth college reunion, signed up to attend and fell in love with a man she hadn’t seen since freshman year. On an excursion to a zoo, her son got carsick and threw up. This wonderful man calmly got him out of the car, cleaned him up and took him for a walk in the fresh air, and she knew she had a keeper.
Linda and the keeper moved to Germany for a few years with their children. While living in Europe, she received an unexpected gift of love letters that became the seeds for her first novel, Dancing on Sunday Afternoons.
Linda has been married for over forty years to the keeper, a brilliant scientist and sailor, and is the mother of three children of whom she is enormously proud. She loves to cook and is happiest when the twelve chairs around her dining room table are filled with people enjoying her food. She speaks four languages, some better than others. She tries to play the piano every night—sometimes by herself and sometimes in an improvisational duet with her younger son. She does The New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle in ink, a practice she learned from her mother. From her mother she also absorbed a love of opera, especially those of Puccini and Verdi, whose music filled her home when she was a child. She once climbed Mt. Kenya and has very curly hair. Linda and the keeper live in Western Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 21, 2025
In this newest historical fiction novel, Paint the Wind, from Linda Cardillo, we are brought into the European art world of the early twentieth century. As is her style, Ms. Cardillo brings us into the scenes with amazing detail and character development. Here we have a young woman coming of age and she must struggle with her identity. As she matures, we are brought into the lives of numerous character who are well-developed and help to mold our young artist. There is quite an education here as we later move into the art world of modern times. This is a great read and very much up to the standards of the author’s previous works.
October 28, 2025
Paint The Wind is well-researched historical fiction. Linda Cardillo’s story telling ability makes early twentieth century Vienna come alive.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews