Welcome to my stop along the Roses & Rot tour, hosted by The Irish Banana Review! In Roses & Rot, sisters Imogen and Marin are accepted to a very elite post-grad arts program, and this school ends up being way different than they expected. The book itself is very atmospheric and the writing is beautiful. Plus, Neil Gaiman blurbed it… so there you go!
I get to do something a little different today for my blog tour stop, and I’m pretty excited about it. I got my undergraduate degree in graphic design and art history, so art is basically my life. I’m all too familiar with the question the book’s synopsis asks us: “How much does an artist need to give up to create great art?” I’ve studied a lot of art and traveled around the world to see some my favorites (but not all!), so today I’m going to share some of my favorite pieces of art, many of which were created by artists who sacrificed it all. I had so much fun going through hundreds of pages of my class notes from all my art history courses as I decided which works to pick.
1. Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh (saw this at the MoMA)
2. Water Lilies by Claude Monet
3. Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap by Pieter Bruegel
4. Rise of the Carthaginian Empire by Joseph Mallord William Turner
5. Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters by Hendrick Avercamp
6. The Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice by Canaletto
7. Salcombe Estuary, South Devon by Henry Thomas Dawson
8. School of Athens by Rafael (saw this at the Vatican)
9. View of the Pic du Midi d’Ossau in the Pyrenees, with Brigands by Clarkson Stanfield
10. The entire ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo (sat in this chapel at the Vatican)
Are you an art history lover like I am? What are some of your favorite artworks?
Roses and Rot by Kat Howard
Published by Saga Press on May 13, 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Retelling, Fairy Tale
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Imogen and her sister Marin have escaped their cruel mother to attend a prestigious artists’ retreat, but soon learn that living in a fairy tale requires sacrifices, be it art or love.
What would you sacrifice in the name of success? How much does an artist need to give up to create great art?
Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her life would become one of these tragic fairy tales because she couldn’t imagine how a stepmother could be worse than her mother now. As adults, Imogen and her sister Marin are accepted to an elite post-grad arts program—Imogen as a writer and Marin as a dancer. Soon enough, though, they realize that there’s more to the school than meets the eye. Imogen might be living in the fairy tale she’s dreamed about as a child, but it’s one that will pit her against Marin if she decides to escape her past to find her heart’s desire.
About Kat:
Kat Howard lives in New Hampshire. Her short fiction has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, anthologized in year’s best and best of collections, and performed on NPR. Roses and Rot is her debut novel. You can find her on twitter at @KatWithSword.
Also, Shane Leonard took her photo, and she’s super grateful.
Tour Schedule:
6/6: Such A Novel Idea – Playlist
6/7: Cosying Up With Books – Review
6/8: That Artsy Reader Girl – Art History Post
6/9: The Quiet Concert – Review
6/10: Fiction Fare – Q&A
6/13: No BS Book Reviews – Q&A
6/14: Curling Up With A Good Book – Guest Post
6/15: Lilybloombooks – Review
6/16: Reads All the Books – Review
6/17: Fangs & Fur Fantasy Books – Review
More art history! Nice picks. I love that you picked some more “obscure” pieces. Your choices are are so different from what I would have chosen, which just proves my point that there is something for everyone in Art History. :)
This book sounds really intriguing for me. I love the arts, and often wish I had more aptitude for them. Sadly, I am not artistically inclined, probably why I was a science major who went on to become a veterinarian.
This book sounds great and I would love to read it.