Woman Who Heard Color (Jones)

The Woman Who Heard Color
Kelly Jones, 2011
Penguin Group (USA)
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780425243053


Summary
Lauren O'Farrell is an "art detective" who made it her mission to retrieve invaluable works stolen by the Nazis during the darkest days of World War II. Her quest leads her to the Manhattan apartment of elderly Isabella Fletcher, a woman who lives in the shadow of a terrible history—years ago her mother was rumored to have collaborated with the Nazis.

But as Isabella reveals the events of her mother's life, Lauren finds herself immersed in an amazing story of courage and secrecy as she discovers the extraordinary truth about a priceless piece of art that may have survived the war and the enduring relationship between a mother and a daughter

Based on historical events, set against a backdrop of sweeping museum purges, the warehousing of thousands of paintings in Berlin, and an auction in Lucerne on the eve of World War II, the story is ultimately one of a woman's belief in artistic freedom, her love for family, and her struggle to survive. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Raised—Twin Falls, Idaho, USA
• Education—B.A., Gonzaga University
• Currently—lives in Boise, Idaho


Kelly Jones grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho. She attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in English and an art minor. She spent her junior year in Italy at the Gonzaga-in-Florence program and developed a love for travel, a passion she now shares with her husband, Jim. An art history class in Florence fueled a love for the history of art, which has become an integral part of her writing.

Her latest release, The Woman Who Heard Color (2011), is a historical novel set in Munich, Berlin, and New York. A story of family loyalty, banned art, and creative freedom, it spans a period of over a century.

Her previous novels include The Seventh Unicorn (2005), inspired by The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries in the Cluny Museum in Paris, France, and The Lost Madonna (2007), set in Florence, Italy.

She is a mother and grandmother and is married to former Idaho Attorney General Jim Jones, who now serves on Idaho's Supreme Court. They live in Boise. (From the author's website.)

Book Reviews
At the start of this intense and richly detailed novel from Jones (Lost Madonna), Lauren O’Farrell, an art detective, interviews 82-year-old Isabella Fletcher about a missing Wassily Kandinsky painting, a masterpiece last seen before WWII. Lauren’s queries open a Pandora’s box of agonizing dilemmas. Did Isabella’s mother, Hanna, whose synesthesia allowed her to “hear” colors, but dead now 60 years, collaborate with the Nazis in looting Jewish-owned art, or was she a hero, saving “degenerate” paintings from the bonfires? Through Hanna’s firm and authoritative voice, we learn of her trajectory from a naïve Bavarian farm girl to an art critic prized by the Nazis, beginning with her impulsive trip to Munich in 1900 and her employment and eventual marriage to Moses Fleischmann, an important art dealer. Hanna eventually catches the attention of Hitler himself. While at times totally implausible (would Hitler have a private lunch with the widow of a prominent Jew?), this story puts a wonderfully imaginative spin on art and history.
Publishers Weekly

Discussion Questions
1. What opportunities open up for Hanna when she becomes an employee in the Fleischmann home? How do these allow her to choose a different path from the one she might have taken had she stayed on the farm? Do you believe Hanna is a woman ahead of her times? What role do Hanna’s own choices and her early fearlessness play in determining her future?

2. Were you initially suspicious of Isabella’s story, and were you surprised by how it all unfolded? Did  you find her memories to be a reliable source of information?

3. What was life like for a Jewish citizen in Germany prior to World War II? What was restricted and what were the human costs as Hitler took power? What do you think it was like for Hanna, a Christian with a Jewish husband? How did her marriage affect her relationships with her own family members, particularly her sister Leni?
 
4. How do you think Hanna felt as a child when she discovered that others did not hear color? Does this condition make her more empathetic with those who might be considered odd or different? Isabella describes her mother’s synesthesia as a gift rather than a liability. Do you believe Hanna came to see her blending of the senses as an asset, too?

5. What role should the government play in determining what is acceptable art? Who should decide what type of art is shown in publicly supported museums? Should certain types of art be subject to government censorship?

6. How would you describe Hanna’s role in cataloguing the confiscated art? Why does she agree to work with the Nazis in this endeavor, and how does she reconcile her complicity with her feelings of disgust? Does she have a choice? What are the consequences of her decision?

7. Though Hanna leaves Germany in 1939, before the start of World War II, do you see anything in her story, particularly relating to her involvement with the art, that might foreshadow the historical events that follow?

8. Some of those purchasing art at the auction in Lucerne come to save it, others to pick up a bargain. Do you believe these buyers realized the funds would be diverted from the museums to build up Hitler’s military strength? Should they have avoided the auction in protest? Why or why not? Do you believe the German museums should be able to reclaim this art?

9. Why is Hanna’s legacy so important to Isabella as an adult? How does Lauren play a critical part in preserving Hanna’s story, allowing her heroics to live on?

10. At one point in the story, Isabella says, “So much family history is lost just because no one listens.... Or when it’s never even told.” Lauren agrees yet has always been reluctant to ask her father about his own history. Do you think Lauren will eventually encourage her father to share more about his childhood and her grandparents’ lives? Do you have family stories that have been told through the generations? Has family history been lost? What is the effect of untold wartime histories disappearing as the World War II generation passes away? What lessons and stories must not be forgotten?
(Questions from author's website.)

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