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Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind
History is storytelling. But some stories remain untold.
In fifteenth-century Italy, Paolo Uccello recognizes the artistic talent of his young daughter, Antonia, and teaches her how to create a masterpiece. The girl composes a painting of her mother and inadvertently sparks an enduring mystery.
In the present day, a copyist painter receives a commission from a wealthy Chinese businessman to duplicate a Paolo Uccello painting. Together, the painter and his teenage daughter visit China, and in doing so they begin their escape from a tragic family past.
In the twenty-second century, a painting is discovered that’s rumored to be the work of Paolo Uccello’s daughter. This reawakens an art historian’s dream of elevating Antonia Uccello, an artist ignored by history because of her gender.
Stories untold. Secrets uncovered. But maybe some mysteries should remain shrouded.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2015
211 people are currently reading
1196 people want to read
About the author
Anne Charnock
19 books154 followersAnne Charnock's novel DREAMS BEFORE THE START OF TIME is the winner of the 2018 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and was shortlisted for the BSFA 2017 Best Novel Award. Her latest novel, BRIDGE 108, is written in the same world as her debut novel, A CALCULATED LIFE — a finalist for the 2013 Philip K. Dick and The Kitschies Golden Tentacle Awards.
SLEEPING EMBERS OF AN ORDINARY MIND, her second novel, was named by The Guardian as one of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2015
Anne Charnock's journalism has appeared in New Scientist, The Guardian, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune and Geographical. She was educated at the University of East Anglia, where she studied Environmental Sciences, and at The Manchester School of Art, England where she gained a Masters in Fine Art.
As a foreign correspondent, she travelled widely in Africa, the Middle East and India and spent a year overlanding through Egypt, Sudan and Kenya.
http://www.annecharnock.com
http://www.twitter.com/annecharnock
Author photo by Marzena Pogorzaly
SLEEPING EMBERS OF AN ORDINARY MIND, her second novel, was named by The Guardian as one of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2015
Anne Charnock's journalism has appeared in New Scientist, The Guardian, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune and Geographical. She was educated at the University of East Anglia, where she studied Environmental Sciences, and at The Manchester School of Art, England where she gained a Masters in Fine Art.
As a foreign correspondent, she travelled widely in Africa, the Middle East and India and spent a year overlanding through Egypt, Sudan and Kenya.
http://www.annecharnock.com
http://www.twitter.com/annecharnock
Author photo by Marzena Pogorzaly
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
September 8, 2016
In Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind, we get three parallel stories, all of them have something to do with Antonia Uccello, or her father Paolo Uccello, the famous painter.
In the past we get to follow Antonia Uccello as she is preparing to a life in a convent. Her father decided that's the best solution for her since there she will have a chance to continue to paint since if she would get married, painting would at all probability be denied her.
In the present time, a copyist is getting a commission from a rich Chinese businessman to duplicate a Paolo Uccello painting. He is visiting China with his teenage daughter. They are recuperating from a loss and in a way will this journey will be a new starting point for them. Something good after all the pain.
In the 2200-century is a painting found that could be painted by Antonia Uccello. This discovery is very important for art historian Toniah. She has for a long time wanted to bring light to Antonia Uccello life.
I think one thing that really appealed to me with this story was out of the three parallel stories in this book one was set in the future. I found the idea of time, just around 100 years in the future interesting. The world, almost similar to ours, yet with some differences. And, the largest difference is of course that the families can look a bit different from now. Because of technology, there are now partho families. At first, was I a bit confused about what that meant, then it was explained that thanks to parthenogenetic a woman can have a child without a man. Basically, this is cloning. I found that very interesting. Toniah, the main character in this story is actually a clone.
My biggest problem with this book is that even though all three stories were interesting to read separately didn't they feel linked together that much. I think I wanted something more than a small link, I mean what has the second story, the one about the father and the teenage daughter to do with Antonia Uccello? It felt more like it was linked to Paolo Uccello. I mean I liked the story, but I would have liked it even better if it had been separated from the others. If it had just been one story and not part of three stories. The same can be said for the other two.
Also, the book ended way too abruptly. I felt that the stories never got a closure. Like the last pages of the book was missing. That bothered me to be honest. It didn't feel like an ambiguous ending. It felt like the stories ended when they started to get good.
On the plus side was it interesting to learn more about Paolo Uccello and to learn that he had a daughter that was considered a paintress. Too bad that none of her paintings seem to have survived to present days.
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review.
In the past we get to follow Antonia Uccello as she is preparing to a life in a convent. Her father decided that's the best solution for her since there she will have a chance to continue to paint since if she would get married, painting would at all probability be denied her.
In the present time, a copyist is getting a commission from a rich Chinese businessman to duplicate a Paolo Uccello painting. He is visiting China with his teenage daughter. They are recuperating from a loss and in a way will this journey will be a new starting point for them. Something good after all the pain.
In the 2200-century is a painting found that could be painted by Antonia Uccello. This discovery is very important for art historian Toniah. She has for a long time wanted to bring light to Antonia Uccello life.
I think one thing that really appealed to me with this story was out of the three parallel stories in this book one was set in the future. I found the idea of time, just around 100 years in the future interesting. The world, almost similar to ours, yet with some differences. And, the largest difference is of course that the families can look a bit different from now. Because of technology, there are now partho families. At first, was I a bit confused about what that meant, then it was explained that thanks to parthenogenetic a woman can have a child without a man. Basically, this is cloning. I found that very interesting. Toniah, the main character in this story is actually a clone.
My biggest problem with this book is that even though all three stories were interesting to read separately didn't they feel linked together that much. I think I wanted something more than a small link, I mean what has the second story, the one about the father and the teenage daughter to do with Antonia Uccello? It felt more like it was linked to Paolo Uccello. I mean I liked the story, but I would have liked it even better if it had been separated from the others. If it had just been one story and not part of three stories. The same can be said for the other two.
Also, the book ended way too abruptly. I felt that the stories never got a closure. Like the last pages of the book was missing. That bothered me to be honest. It didn't feel like an ambiguous ending. It felt like the stories ended when they started to get good.
On the plus side was it interesting to learn more about Paolo Uccello and to learn that he had a daughter that was considered a paintress. Too bad that none of her paintings seem to have survived to present days.
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review.
November 17, 2015
The framework for this story was really well done. I like how it was split into 3 very different time periods with 3 distinct voices and 3 very different lives, yet they are all connected by the same art. Each story was engaging, each character was unique and interesting.
Unfortunately, the book ended too aburptly. I felt each story was missing something big. They all ended nicely, but they were lacking in some sort of conflict, or the conflicts they had were not serious enough, not played out enough. The stories ramp up, lead you to believe something big is going to happen, but then just level off and stop.
Unfortunately, the book ended too aburptly. I felt each story was missing something big. They all ended nicely, but they were lacking in some sort of conflict, or the conflicts they had were not serious enough, not played out enough. The stories ramp up, lead you to believe something big is going to happen, but then just level off and stop.
January 31, 2016
Beautifully written and haunting in the sense that it leaves you with things to think about, Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind completely captured me. Blending science fiction, art, and history, its three connected storylines span time--with one in the past, one in the present, and one in the future--but all revolve around the fifteenth century painter Paolo Uccello and his artistically talented daughter Antonia, two real life historical figures. A lot of research went into this novel, and I actually learned something about painting composition, art history and the possibilities of future technology.
I alternated between reading a review copy of this book supplied to me at no cost by the author, and a Kindle copy that I purchased myself. Review opinions are mine.
I alternated between reading a review copy of this book supplied to me at no cost by the author, and a Kindle copy that I purchased myself. Review opinions are mine.
November 15, 2015
What a let down. This is a book with an intriguing plot and you're reading and just really getting into it - and then it stops. No rhyme or reason - no warning - no indication that the tale was told. Just STOPPED. I felt totally confused and very disappointed.
January 29, 2016
I won this book through a GR giveaway.
An okay book, an okay read, but I'll admit, sort of forgettable. Though written in great detail - and with equal skill - the book didn't move or engage me.
The chapters move through the lives of two young girls, and a young woman, set at various times. The first is Antonia Uccello, daughter of a prominent Italian painter, circa 1469. She's as skilled, if not more so, than her father and to preserve that talent, Antonia's parents decide to have her enter a convent at about age thirteen. The thinking is that she will be allowed to paint there - if her dowry is generous enough - which otherwise, as a young bride and mother she would not be able to do.
The second story regards a young woman living in a parthogenetic household, the year 2113. Living with only females - a sister, a niece, a female boarder - and living in a time when there are many ways to have a child or family, Toniah is undecided how her life should go. She's interested in men, which her sister has issues with, and she loves art. She's also involved in a movement in which male artists from the past are 'reassessed' as to their contributions to the art world. Female artists, on the other hand, are pulled from obscurity and (rightfully?) returned to whatever place of prominence or importance is deemed most appropriate. Toniah has a lot of decisions to make regarding her place in all of this, as well as her relationship with her sister, her close male friend, etc.
The third story involves a present-day girl, living with her father in England, and dealing with the recent death of her mother. Their story is almost mundane and follows them going about day-to-day life, talking about painting, visiting museums, etc.
The whole book is a series of vignettes or 'moments' in the lives of these three 'ordinary' women. There's really no great crisis or problem to be solved; there is no 'arc' or loop or great denouement. (There isn't even a really small denouement.) It's little pieces of each character's lives and then it ends.
There's also a lot about art, various paintings, painting technique with emphasis on color, and so on, so it's also a way for the author to 'showcase' her knowledge of the topic.
So three stars, that's it.
An okay book, an okay read, but I'll admit, sort of forgettable. Though written in great detail - and with equal skill - the book didn't move or engage me.
The chapters move through the lives of two young girls, and a young woman, set at various times. The first is Antonia Uccello, daughter of a prominent Italian painter, circa 1469. She's as skilled, if not more so, than her father and to preserve that talent, Antonia's parents decide to have her enter a convent at about age thirteen. The thinking is that she will be allowed to paint there - if her dowry is generous enough - which otherwise, as a young bride and mother she would not be able to do.
The second story regards a young woman living in a parthogenetic household, the year 2113. Living with only females - a sister, a niece, a female boarder - and living in a time when there are many ways to have a child or family, Toniah is undecided how her life should go. She's interested in men, which her sister has issues with, and she loves art. She's also involved in a movement in which male artists from the past are 'reassessed' as to their contributions to the art world. Female artists, on the other hand, are pulled from obscurity and (rightfully?) returned to whatever place of prominence or importance is deemed most appropriate. Toniah has a lot of decisions to make regarding her place in all of this, as well as her relationship with her sister, her close male friend, etc.
The third story involves a present-day girl, living with her father in England, and dealing with the recent death of her mother. Their story is almost mundane and follows them going about day-to-day life, talking about painting, visiting museums, etc.
The whole book is a series of vignettes or 'moments' in the lives of these three 'ordinary' women. There's really no great crisis or problem to be solved; there is no 'arc' or loop or great denouement. (There isn't even a really small denouement.) It's little pieces of each character's lives and then it ends.
There's also a lot about art, various paintings, painting technique with emphasis on color, and so on, so it's also a way for the author to 'showcase' her knowledge of the topic.
So three stars, that's it.
November 18, 2015
This is one of those books in which three separate stories are told. In this case, the stories are separated by time as well as characters, with narration from the 1400s, present time, and 2100s. Usually, there is a thread that connects the stories. In this case, the thread was so tiny, it was almost invisible. No, actually, it was just more of an idea of a thread. And, without that connection, the stories seem rather pointless.
In addition, some aspects of each story (esp. the future one)seemed to beg for better analysis, better solution. The main character of the future story works for a group whose goal is to 'rewrite history', emphasizing women's contributions, reducing men's. (This is explained early, so not a spoiler.) I mean, that and the society that it exists in could be the basis of a novel to itself. And, yet, here, it's just presented and never analyzed. Some minor 'resolution' at the end (in quotes because it never felt really resolved at all), but that's it.
I kept reading this because I was waiting for the stories to come together, and for some solutions for each story. I got neither. In fact, this was a book where I suddenly turned the page to find I'd finished it, and it felt completely unfinished.
In addition, some aspects of each story (esp. the future one)seemed to beg for better analysis, better solution. The main character of the future story works for a group whose goal is to 'rewrite history', emphasizing women's contributions, reducing men's. (This is explained early, so not a spoiler.) I mean, that and the society that it exists in could be the basis of a novel to itself. And, yet, here, it's just presented and never analyzed. Some minor 'resolution' at the end (in quotes because it never felt really resolved at all), but that's it.
I kept reading this because I was waiting for the stories to come together, and for some solutions for each story. I got neither. In fact, this was a book where I suddenly turned the page to find I'd finished it, and it felt completely unfinished.
December 15, 2016
Very cool idea, juxtaposing the lives of three women: an Italian Renaissance artist, a present-day teenager, and a 22nd century art restitution scholar. The theme of social and familial obligations placed on women is drawn across the centuries, with all three women dealing with those obligations on their own (socially acceptable for their time) terms. What holds this novel back from being a richer, deeper, more compelling story is its reliance on ping-pong dialogue to structure the narrative and move the story forward, with little attention to prose or atmosphere. Too often, the many-lined dialogues of short, empty statements could be condensed into one, more powerful narrative sentence. If only Charnock had applied more paint to her brush and used thicker, more dramatic strokes, as Antonia Uccello might recommend. In other words, a rather traditional structure for classic sci-fi, which should please the traditional sci-fi fan. But I like the way this author thinks, and I look forward to more.
November 19, 2015
How did I miss the ending?
Honestly, I was enjoying the novel, waiting for the big reveal at how they were interrelated. And then it ended!! It was quite abrupt. I had to read other reader's reviews to figure out the relations. Beautiful, but odd read for me.
Honestly, I was enjoying the novel, waiting for the big reveal at how they were interrelated. And then it ended!! It was quite abrupt. I had to read other reader's reviews to figure out the relations. Beautiful, but odd read for me.
December 4, 2015
Anne Charnock's first novel, A Calculated Life, is one of my favourite novels I've read this year. So I was very excited to get a review copy of her latest novel, courtesy of 47 North via NetGalley, which was published on 1 December.
Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind is a braided story about three women. Antonia is the daughter of Paolo Uccello, a noted Renaissance Italian painter. Toniah is an art historian with an interest in that period, involved in an organisation that works on revisionist histories of art to bring to greater prominence the role of female artists. Set in the future, she is the result of parthenogenetic reproduction (a clone, to you and me). And Toni is a teenage girl, whose widowered father makes his living as a professional copyist of the works of others. Most recently, he has been commissioned to reproduce one of Paolo Uccello's most famous paintings.
It would be easy to see Sleeping Embers as 'just' a feminist novel. Antonia Uccello was a real person. She became a nun, and is recorded as an artist, but none of her work survives. Charnock imagines what her life must have been: the talented daughter of a noted artist who, because of the strict gender roles of her time would be unable to pursue her art without the comparative freedom a wealthy woman in a convent could attain. Toniah is very explicitly made an art historian who specialises in that period of Italian art. She is employed by an organisation whose mandate is one that Gerda Lerner would identify as 'compensatory history': the retrospective identification of notable women from the past who have made contributions equivalent to those of men, albeit within the context of strict gender roles. But that organisation seems more interested in destroying the reputation of notable men than identifying and advancing knowledge of previously unknown female artists.
But Sleeping Embers is a much more nuanced novel than this. It deals compellingly with the consequences of those absent from our lives: the gaps they create and how people's actions are shaped by loss and the missing. Toni and her father are working through the tragic consequences of the loss of her mother in a car accident, seeking to rebuild their family without her. Toni's school history project explicitly charts families who lost relatives too soon (albeit that in many cases people instinctively leap to men killed in combat rather than women dying in childbirth). Toniah unravels the mystery of her own heritage: the loss that made her grandmother choose to become an early adopter of parthenogenetic reproduction.
As with A Calculated Life, Sleeping Embers is a tautly written novel. It is more explicitly literary, with only Toniah's parthenogenetic heritage nodding to genre, but it is thought-provoking and very well-crafted.
Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind is a braided story about three women. Antonia is the daughter of Paolo Uccello, a noted Renaissance Italian painter. Toniah is an art historian with an interest in that period, involved in an organisation that works on revisionist histories of art to bring to greater prominence the role of female artists. Set in the future, she is the result of parthenogenetic reproduction (a clone, to you and me). And Toni is a teenage girl, whose widowered father makes his living as a professional copyist of the works of others. Most recently, he has been commissioned to reproduce one of Paolo Uccello's most famous paintings.
It would be easy to see Sleeping Embers as 'just' a feminist novel. Antonia Uccello was a real person. She became a nun, and is recorded as an artist, but none of her work survives. Charnock imagines what her life must have been: the talented daughter of a noted artist who, because of the strict gender roles of her time would be unable to pursue her art without the comparative freedom a wealthy woman in a convent could attain. Toniah is very explicitly made an art historian who specialises in that period of Italian art. She is employed by an organisation whose mandate is one that Gerda Lerner would identify as 'compensatory history': the retrospective identification of notable women from the past who have made contributions equivalent to those of men, albeit within the context of strict gender roles. But that organisation seems more interested in destroying the reputation of notable men than identifying and advancing knowledge of previously unknown female artists.
But Sleeping Embers is a much more nuanced novel than this. It deals compellingly with the consequences of those absent from our lives: the gaps they create and how people's actions are shaped by loss and the missing. Toni and her father are working through the tragic consequences of the loss of her mother in a car accident, seeking to rebuild their family without her. Toni's school history project explicitly charts families who lost relatives too soon (albeit that in many cases people instinctively leap to men killed in combat rather than women dying in childbirth). Toniah unravels the mystery of her own heritage: the loss that made her grandmother choose to become an early adopter of parthenogenetic reproduction.
As with A Calculated Life, Sleeping Embers is a tautly written novel. It is more explicitly literary, with only Toniah's parthenogenetic heritage nodding to genre, but it is thought-provoking and very well-crafted.
June 4, 2021
3.5⭐��
January 15, 2016
3.5 stars, rounded up because it combines two of my favorite subjects, Sci-fi and art history. The storylines are simple glimpses into the lives of three women; there are threads connecting them although I don't think it's anything you might call an "overarching plot". Still quite satisfying, though. I'll certainly be reading some more of the author's work in the future.
January 21, 2016
3.5 stars rounded up. This is the second of Charnock's novels that I've read, and I am beginning to think that she is just not a fan of story lines that resolve. This book presents three snippets of three lives, separated across the centuries. Very little connects them, very little happens, but they're beautifully realised little tales. I enjoyed.
November 16, 2015
This book is gorgeous. I love how each woman's voice is so distinctive. I could read a paragraph without any identifying information and know whose it was. This book fills the soul with peace but also instills the desire to go out looking for that which brings beauty and purpose. Bravo. So well done.
November 24, 2015
This was not a difficult book to read but the whole way through I was waiting for some sort of a connection between the characters in the different time frames. This did not occur to my satisfaction. When the book ended, it felt incomplete, like the story wasn't over yet and it had not reached a conclusion. Overall, reading this book felt like a waste of time.
November 12, 2015
A novel as intricate and lovely as the paintings that adorn the lives of Anne Charnock's sharply-drawn characters. A love letter to art and to womanhood, not to be missed.
November 4, 2015
Anne Charnock's Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind not only has a visually stunning cover, it has an entirely thought provoking interior. Being a fellow artist, it is so clear that Charnock can paint a scene as deftly with words. And while she may not use vermilion, viridian or violet as she does on her brushes, her word imagery is vivid, alive and cinematic as any I've come across.
Her three protagonists all with a version of the name of Toni, I will call them Tpast, Tnow and Tgo, as they have been eloquently explained by another reviewer, but let me add some general comments about the characters in book, and the protagonists specifically. Charnock's characters display her understanding of human emotions and relationships at any age. Her protagonists are very different, but wholly human.
Charnock really wanted readers to think about family relationships and what they really mean to us, or Really, What They Should Mean to Us. Especially Father-Daughter relationships, which I believe are vital to a girl's upbringing. Charnock always makes you think for yourself, so instead of shoving it in your face or S P E L L I N G I T O U T, she gives you various examples of the same scenario different ways. It is why we have three protagonists with similar, yet drastically dissimilar lives.
Tpast: 15th century, teen, passionate about art, big tight family, religious
Tnow: teen, designs vintage denim jackets, discovering family & life
Tgo: 2113, older, art historian, no father, job: prove Tpast painted
There are so many intersections and subsets of features where these three women's lives virtually align, even though they live in different countries, in different cultures and especially in differing centuries.
Charnock uses the three women, their circumstances, their families, their loves and their discoveries and she creates one of those incredible pieces of art that is a pastiche - in effect a large work created by many tiny pictures that you cannot see at all until your nose is an inch from the glass covering the artwork, then all the rich, small and large details are clear.
At the end of the novel, ( and yes there is an end if you are following along with the bouncing ball ), I let out a slow breath and felt very satisfied. The book was beautiful. Moving. Thoughtful. Insightful.
At the end of the day, you just have to ask yourself a few questions:
What am I passionate about?
Who do I love?
Am I doing everything I can for those I love, including my family?
Have I let everyday routine replace real familial bonds?
How much family history do I know? Where can I find more?
What do we really pass down to our kids, beside DNA?
Between the three women, there is not just the similarities of their names, their creativity, their passion for art and for family, but there won't be spoilers here.. It forms a continuous historical line from Toni to Toni to Toni.
This book was, for me, a treasure. The scene in the Master of Nets Garden with bamboo was incredible. Thank you Anne Charnock. Just as good, yet radically different than A Calculated Mind.
The only downside, and why the review isn't five stars, is there were a number of opportunities in the narrative when Charnock could have really tied things together, gotten a huge emotional pay off and just walked off stage after an arc was done, instead, things are just assumed to have happened. One particular scene regarding a shelf would almost have been a gut punching agony for one of our girls, but also very happy at the same time. It does explode the beautious, meditative vibe. It could have been a few sentences and stolen the show. A microcosm of best part of the tale in a burst. What's a girl to do? Read on.....
Highly Recommended for people who don't mind doin' a little bit a thinkin' when they read. If that sounds like you, you are in for a treat.
This book was sent to me by the author for my unvarnished opinion: and here it is. MLB
Her three protagonists all with a version of the name of Toni, I will call them Tpast, Tnow and Tgo, as they have been eloquently explained by another reviewer, but let me add some general comments about the characters in book, and the protagonists specifically. Charnock's characters display her understanding of human emotions and relationships at any age. Her protagonists are very different, but wholly human.
Charnock really wanted readers to think about family relationships and what they really mean to us, or Really, What They Should Mean to Us. Especially Father-Daughter relationships, which I believe are vital to a girl's upbringing. Charnock always makes you think for yourself, so instead of shoving it in your face or S P E L L I N G I T O U T, she gives you various examples of the same scenario different ways. It is why we have three protagonists with similar, yet drastically dissimilar lives.
Tpast: 15th century, teen, passionate about art, big tight family, religious
Tnow: teen, designs vintage denim jackets, discovering family & life
Tgo: 2113, older, art historian, no father, job: prove Tpast painted
There are so many intersections and subsets of features where these three women's lives virtually align, even though they live in different countries, in different cultures and especially in differing centuries.
Charnock uses the three women, their circumstances, their families, their loves and their discoveries and she creates one of those incredible pieces of art that is a pastiche - in effect a large work created by many tiny pictures that you cannot see at all until your nose is an inch from the glass covering the artwork, then all the rich, small and large details are clear.
At the end of the novel, ( and yes there is an end if you are following along with the bouncing ball ), I let out a slow breath and felt very satisfied. The book was beautiful. Moving. Thoughtful. Insightful.
At the end of the day, you just have to ask yourself a few questions:
What am I passionate about?
Who do I love?
Am I doing everything I can for those I love, including my family?
Have I let everyday routine replace real familial bonds?
How much family history do I know? Where can I find more?
What do we really pass down to our kids, beside DNA?
Between the three women, there is not just the similarities of their names, their creativity, their passion for art and for family, but there won't be spoilers here.. It forms a continuous historical line from Toni to Toni to Toni.
This book was, for me, a treasure. The scene in the Master of Nets Garden with bamboo was incredible. Thank you Anne Charnock. Just as good, yet radically different than A Calculated Mind.
The only downside, and why the review isn't five stars, is there were a number of opportunities in the narrative when Charnock could have really tied things together, gotten a huge emotional pay off and just walked off stage after an arc was done, instead, things are just assumed to have happened. One particular scene regarding a shelf would almost have been a gut punching agony for one of our girls, but also very happy at the same time. It does explode the beautious, meditative vibe. It could have been a few sentences and stolen the show. A microcosm of best part of the tale in a burst. What's a girl to do? Read on.....
Highly Recommended for people who don't mind doin' a little bit a thinkin' when they read. If that sounds like you, you are in for a treat.
This book was sent to me by the author for my unvarnished opinion: and here it is. MLB
December 19, 2018
This book is frustrating. Each passage is written with care, & interesting in its own right. But the three strands BARELY have anything to do with each other. And none is complete on its own.
Each page makes promises the next page can’t keep. The hope of extracting deeper meaning is in each chapter. But it never comes to be.
I wish this had just been the story of Antonia, with maybe a quick look ahead to future women seeking out female painters from the 1400s. That would have been perfect. Instead we get three pretty but ultimately shallow depictions of women in 3 different centuries. They’re not even the same age, or bound by similar life circumstances. What a waste of beautiful prose.
Each page makes promises the next page can’t keep. The hope of extracting deeper meaning is in each chapter. But it never comes to be.
I wish this had just been the story of Antonia, with maybe a quick look ahead to future women seeking out female painters from the 1400s. That would have been perfect. Instead we get three pretty but ultimately shallow depictions of women in 3 different centuries. They’re not even the same age, or bound by similar life circumstances. What a waste of beautiful prose.
January 17, 2018
To start with, dumb title. It has nothing to do with the book. It is really 3 stories. One about Antonia Ucello as a child and how she begins her career in a convent , which was the practice for many families in the 15th century, to place daughters there for education.
Another story parallels it by describing a young girl and her father who have recently lost the mom/wife. It is set in the 1990’s. He is an artist who is commissioned by people to copy famous works of art. He copies a painting by Antonia’s father Paolo. They travel to China which is irrelevant in my opinion but I enjoyed the references to parts of culture with which I’m familiar.
The third story takes place in 2111 for some reason. The mains character is an art analyst or theorist or something. It’s unclear what necessity her line of work is to anyone but she does get on the trail of an old painting that turns out to be Antonia’s first Portrait. Several futuristic things are referenced like some optical device that when someone speaks a foreign language it translates it to your language on your retina. Also the character is part of a parthenogenetic family. I looked it up. An embryo is grown without a fertilization. Totally irrelevant.
The author never connects the stories. Just tells them side by side. Oh and the women in each story are named Antonia, Tonniah, and Toni. Clever. Not.
Another story parallels it by describing a young girl and her father who have recently lost the mom/wife. It is set in the 1990’s. He is an artist who is commissioned by people to copy famous works of art. He copies a painting by Antonia’s father Paolo. They travel to China which is irrelevant in my opinion but I enjoyed the references to parts of culture with which I’m familiar.
The third story takes place in 2111 for some reason. The mains character is an art analyst or theorist or something. It’s unclear what necessity her line of work is to anyone but she does get on the trail of an old painting that turns out to be Antonia’s first Portrait. Several futuristic things are referenced like some optical device that when someone speaks a foreign language it translates it to your language on your retina. Also the character is part of a parthenogenetic family. I looked it up. An embryo is grown without a fertilization. Totally irrelevant.
The author never connects the stories. Just tells them side by side. Oh and the women in each story are named Antonia, Tonniah, and Toni. Clever. Not.
June 25, 2021
This is a charming story that is elegantly and tenderly written. It tells the story of three women Antonia in fifteenth century Italy, Toni in current day London and Tonia in the 22nd century. All three women face challenges in their lives and for all three it works out.
The book doesn't really have an ending, which I see several reviewers have criticised it for, but it leaves all three women in a position where they can look forward to the future and the life to come. That is it ends on a note of hope - the only true ending to life is when you die and this is hardly a happy event for most of us.
This isn't my usual fare - I read mostly science fiction - but I thoroughly enjoyed this and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
The book doesn't really have an ending, which I see several reviewers have criticised it for, but it leaves all three women in a position where they can look forward to the future and the life to come. That is it ends on a note of hope - the only true ending to life is when you die and this is hardly a happy event for most of us.
This isn't my usual fare - I read mostly science fiction - but I thoroughly enjoyed this and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
March 22, 2018
March book club choice, another one from Anne Charnock. Interesting story of 3 women, presumably related, certainly all interested in art, but from very different times and places, split into chapters on each. Very easy reading, did not take long to whip through it. I docked a star for the ending, it just seemed to stop, but then I suppose it could have just have gone on for ever...
March 4, 2024
I loved the stories in this book. The ending, however, felt like the author simply turned in the book unfinished. Open endings often work but in this case I feel it ended openly a few steps too soon. 5 stars for the concept, 3 stars for the ending.
August 2, 2016
Oh dear, that was an enjoyable, albeit strange experience. On the one hand, I can't honestly say that I get it, while, on the other hand, I feel pretty strongly that - on a page-by-page basis - the book was really good (even if I'm quite confident that I didn't ultimately understand it)....
So, where to start? For art readers looking for something a little different (or maybe really different), I'm guessing this is worth a try. While it wasn't a page turner in the same way as The Art Forger, it hummed along nicely, and I'm guessing that folks who enjoy Tracey Chevalier (and Girl with the Pearl Earring comes to mind, as did Falling Angels, although some may find that a stretch) or maybe Susan Vreeland, would warm to this quite easily. But, at the same time, there's a strong sci-fi (or speculative fiction) aspect to it, and some folks may find parallels to Cloud Atlas, even if, frankly, I wasn't sure where any of that story line/thread was going.
Despite my ambivalence as to what the book may have been about, any dim-witted confusion as to how the three story-lines tied together, or my seemingly limited potential to grasp some obvious (or, who knows, potentially elegantly subtle) theme, point, thread, or epiphany, I enjoyed every page, and, frankly, I was sad when the book ended (because, in part, I wanted more resolution for all three of the stories, and, overall, I have so many remaining questions, but I don't think there's any reason to expect a sequel).... I'd love to read the next 100 pages of the (apparently unwritten, un-announced, unlikely) sequel, and, based on what I've read, I could imagine another 200 pages or more....
I expect I'll have to try Charnock's other book. Maybe I'll understand that one - but, even if don't, I expect to enjoy it....
So, where to start? For art readers looking for something a little different (or maybe really different), I'm guessing this is worth a try. While it wasn't a page turner in the same way as The Art Forger, it hummed along nicely, and I'm guessing that folks who enjoy Tracey Chevalier (and Girl with the Pearl Earring comes to mind, as did Falling Angels, although some may find that a stretch) or maybe Susan Vreeland, would warm to this quite easily. But, at the same time, there's a strong sci-fi (or speculative fiction) aspect to it, and some folks may find parallels to Cloud Atlas, even if, frankly, I wasn't sure where any of that story line/thread was going.
Despite my ambivalence as to what the book may have been about, any dim-witted confusion as to how the three story-lines tied together, or my seemingly limited potential to grasp some obvious (or, who knows, potentially elegantly subtle) theme, point, thread, or epiphany, I enjoyed every page, and, frankly, I was sad when the book ended (because, in part, I wanted more resolution for all three of the stories, and, overall, I have so many remaining questions, but I don't think there's any reason to expect a sequel).... I'd love to read the next 100 pages of the (apparently unwritten, un-announced, unlikely) sequel, and, based on what I've read, I could imagine another 200 pages or more....
I expect I'll have to try Charnock's other book. Maybe I'll understand that one - but, even if don't, I expect to enjoy it....
January 27, 2016
I'm in two minds about Sleeping Embers.
On the one hand, it barely ever has more than the tiniest hint of plot or character development to the extent that I wondered exactly what the point of it was. One character in the work chides another for being "dramatic" and I feel that the author constantly does the same to herself, lest anything truly exciting or interesting actually happen. The concept of having three tenuously related storylines concerning female leads isn't in hardly any way interrelated or interesting or more than mundane.
However... there's a certain something about it. It's very readable, and the perspectives of each of the characters are well drawn and varied. Antonia's confined life in a noble family in 15th century Italy and Toni's teenage attitudes were fantastic and warm, though not so much Toniah's neuroticism. If the book has a point or purpose, it's clearly to showcase the excellent research the author has put into the setting. I was never interested in art (where it concerns painting) or history or art history, but I found myself far more interested and informed by them by the end, to my pleasant surprise. In fact, the author makes everything the characters do seem more evocative and contagious.
In essence, I often found reading the book a pleasant journey but I still don't know where it was meant to be going or what it was all for. I suspect that whoever this book is for, it's not me... but I'm glad I gave it a try ☺
On the one hand, it barely ever has more than the tiniest hint of plot or character development to the extent that I wondered exactly what the point of it was. One character in the work chides another for being "dramatic" and I feel that the author constantly does the same to herself, lest anything truly exciting or interesting actually happen. The concept of having three tenuously related storylines concerning female leads isn't in hardly any way interrelated or interesting or more than mundane.
However... there's a certain something about it. It's very readable, and the perspectives of each of the characters are well drawn and varied. Antonia's confined life in a noble family in 15th century Italy and Toni's teenage attitudes were fantastic and warm, though not so much Toniah's neuroticism. If the book has a point or purpose, it's clearly to showcase the excellent research the author has put into the setting. I was never interested in art (where it concerns painting) or history or art history, but I found myself far more interested and informed by them by the end, to my pleasant surprise. In fact, the author makes everything the characters do seem more evocative and contagious.
In essence, I often found reading the book a pleasant journey but I still don't know where it was meant to be going or what it was all for. I suspect that whoever this book is for, it's not me... but I'm glad I gave it a try ☺
January 25, 2016
After I got into the book and was vested in the three characters, I thought I was really going to like this book; three widely separated time periods; three different women connected loosely together by the subject of art. For a novel, I expected the three individual stories to come together in some type of closure. I could see I was getting closer to the end and hoped this wasn't an author who wraps everything up fast and furiously at the last minute.
I loved the art details and the cultural details of each time period, but was shocked that all three stories simply ended, without fanfare, in the middle of each woman's life story. It seemed a better ending for a short story perhaps,to leave the reader drifting in speculation.
The title said it all and, of course, I missed it. For all the enjoyment and anticipation with which I had begun the book, I ended up simply annoyed that ordinary lives moved on with no great climax or epiphany, the original embers of passion still sleeping.
I loved the art details and the cultural details of each time period, but was shocked that all three stories simply ended, without fanfare, in the middle of each woman's life story. It seemed a better ending for a short story perhaps,to leave the reader drifting in speculation.
The title said it all and, of course, I missed it. For all the enjoyment and anticipation with which I had begun the book, I ended up simply annoyed that ordinary lives moved on with no great climax or epiphany, the original embers of passion still sleeping.
November 28, 2015
Interesting, but not for me.
This book is just not the sort of book I am interested in. It was interesting to read and I do like art. While reading I felt like I was constantly waiting for all three paths to cross, however that never really happens. Yes, Toniah is interested in the period of time that Antonia Uccello was alive, although this is the only thing that links them from my understanding. The part of Toni, even though I like the character just doesn't seem to fit with the rest other than in terms of art. Maybe I am just not seeing a deeper meaning behind this book, but I wish it would have had something that linked them in the end.
For someone who is really interested in art I would recommend this book. it has many references and brings up the issue of female artists and the lack of acknowledgement they receive.
This book is just not the sort of book I am interested in. It was interesting to read and I do like art. While reading I felt like I was constantly waiting for all three paths to cross, however that never really happens. Yes, Toniah is interested in the period of time that Antonia Uccello was alive, although this is the only thing that links them from my understanding. The part of Toni, even though I like the character just doesn't seem to fit with the rest other than in terms of art. Maybe I am just not seeing a deeper meaning behind this book, but I wish it would have had something that linked them in the end.
For someone who is really interested in art I would recommend this book. it has many references and brings up the issue of female artists and the lack of acknowledgement they receive.
December 20, 2015
Three narratives, none of which follow basic story telling constructs. Normally if there are three stories, there is a common thread linking them that offers some exploration of the theme. This mess just half-tells three stories, with the common thread hardly visible in one of them and invisible in the other, with absolutely no depth, no point and, ultimately, no ending. The stories just stop.
I blame the editor. Who would allow this to go to publication in this state? This novel needs a whole lot more work to get it to where it should be. As is, I was left frustrated and pretty cross with the entire experience.
I blame the editor. Who would allow this to go to publication in this state? This novel needs a whole lot more work to get it to where it should be. As is, I was left frustrated and pretty cross with the entire experience.
November 23, 2015
This book had a lot of potential and I enjoyed reading it for a while. It alternated between a 13th century girl artist in Florence whose famous artist father taught and mentored her, a present day girl whose father is an artist, and a futuristic female art researcher with no father whatsoever. All with some variation of the name Toni. The connection between the three stories would have been fascinating but the story just petered out and was never really developed. In the end, just disappointing.
June 22, 2016
Beautifully written stories which immediately engage you with the main characters. The common themes and connections between the stories were well thought out and subtlety done. A rather abrupt ending which I kind of get - I'd just have liked a bit more!
November 22, 2022
Pointless. Starts with a good hook across various centuries, gets agonizingly boring by describing every speck of dust in each scene, and finally doesn't connect the dots between each character's arc in the end.
November 14, 2015
Loved the characters but the book never seemed to come together. Ended with more questions. Feels like an introduction. Would like to read more if it is coming.
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