{"product_id":"painting-the-light-9780062916259","title":"Painting the Light","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the critically acclaimed author of \u003cem\u003eMonticello\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Widow's War\u003c\/em\u003e comes a vividly rendered historical novel of love, loss, and reinvention, set on Martha's Vineyard at the end of the nineteenth century.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMartha's Vineyard, 1898. In her first life, Ida Russell had been a painter. Five years ago, she had confidently walked the halls of Boston's renowned Museum School, enrolling in art courses that were once deemed \"unthinkable\" for women to take, and showing a budding talent for watercolors.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut no more. Ida Russell is now Ida Pease, resident of a seaside farm on Vineyard Haven, and wife to Ezra, a once-charming man who has become an inattentive and altogether unreliable husband. Ezra runs a salvage company in town with his business partner, Mose Barstow, but he much prefers their nightly card games at the local pub to his work in their Boston office, not to mention filling haystacks and tending sheep on the farm at home--duties that have fallen to Ida and their part-time farmhand, Lem. Ida, meanwhile, has left her love for painting behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt comes as no surprise to Ida when Ezra is hours late for a Thanksgiving dinner, only to leave abruptly for another supposedly urgent business trip to Boston. But then something unthinkable happens: a storm strikes and the ship carrying Ezra and Mose sinks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the wake of this shocking tragedy, Ida must settle the affairs of Ezra's estate, a task that brings her to a familiar face from her past--Henry Barstow, Mose's brother and executor. As she joins Henry in sifting through the remnants of her husband's life and work, Ida must learn to separate truth from lies and what matters from what doesn't.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCaptured in rich, painterly prose\u003cem\u003e--\u003c\/em\u003epiercing as a coastal gale and shimmering as sunlight on the waves\u003cem\u003e--Painting the Light \u003c\/em\u003eis an arresting portrait of a woman, and a considered meditation on grief, persistence, and reinvention.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGunning, Sally Cabot:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eSally Cabot Gunning lives in Brewster, Massachusetts, with her husband, Tom. A lifelong resident of New England, she is active in local historical organizations and creates tours that showcase the three-hundred-year history of her village. She is the author of three \"Satucket novels\" (\u003cem\u003eThe Widow's War\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eBound\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eThe Rebellion of Jane Clarke\u003c\/em\u003e), as well as the historical novels \u003cem\u003eBenjamin Franklin's Bastard\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eMonticello\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"William Morrow \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50718106321170,"sku":"9780062916259","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f1330884-1a8c-4450-9738-dd2e95bcff28.jpg?v=1734633702","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/painting-the-light-9780062916259","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}