Blood Water Paint

By: Joy McCullough

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

"Haunting ... teems with raw emotion, and McCullough deftly captures the experience of learning to behave in a male-driven society and then breaking outside of it." (The New Yorker)

"I will be haunted and empowered by Artemisia Gentileschi's story for the rest of my life." (Amanda Lovelace, best-selling author of The Princess Saves Herself in This One)

A William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist2018 National Book Award Longlist

Her mother died when she was 12, and suddenly Artemisia Gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father's paint.

She chose paint.

By the time she was 17, Artemisia did more than grind pigment. She was one of Rome's most talented painters, even if no one knew her name. But Rome in 1610 was a city where men took what they wanted from women, and in the aftermath of rape Artemisia faced another terrible choice: a life of silence or a life of truth, no matter the cost.

He will not consume my every thought.

I am a painter.

I will paint.

Joy McCullough's bold novel in verse is a portrait of an artist as a young woman, filled with the soaring highs of creative inspiration and the devastating setbacks of a system built to break her. McCullough weaves Artemisia's heartbreaking story with the stories of the ancient heroines, Susanna and Judith, who become not only the subjects of two of Artemisia's most famous paintings but sources of strength as she battles to paint a woman's timeless truth in the face of unspeakable and all-too-familiar violence.

I will show you what a woman can do.

"A captivating and impressive." (Booklist, starred review)

"Belongs on every YA shelf." (SLJ, starred review)

"Haunting." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

"Luminous." (Shelf Awareness, starred review)

©2018 Joy McCullough (P)2018 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Haunting ... [Blood Water Paint] does not read like historical fiction. It teems with raw emotion, and McCullough deftly captures the experience of learning to behave in a male-driven society and then breaking outside of it." (The New Yorker)

"An impassioned, lushly described account of a young woman who refuses to dwell in secret shame. Blood Water Paint fits smoothly into the current conversation surrounding the #MeToo movement." (Chicago Tribune)

"Coming out of the novel, I knew I would be haunted and empowered by Artemisia’s story for the rest of my life." (Amanda Lovelace, best-selling author of The Princess Saves Herself in This One)

"Tragically relevant and unflinchingly feminist, Blood Water Paint is the kind of book all historical fiction should aspire to be." (Mackenzi Lee, New York Times best-selling author of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue)

"McCullough has managed to vividly capture a singularly brave, resilient feminist who became an icon during a time when women had almost no agency. Her story and the stunning verse through which it is told will resonate just as strongly with readers today. A captivating and impressive debut about a timeless heroine." (Booklist, starred review)

Told her story in such a real way

I loved this book so much. it was so beautifully written. Reads like a fiction novel.

this book is amazing!

as an rtist and a survivor of abuse I found this book to be extremely relatable, I found power, strength and a voice that resembles my own. this book is amazingly well written and the way her story was explained it was just like artemisias paintings, a woman not being afraid to show the ugly and the raw. I strongly recommend this book.

incredible

Heart wrenching, honest, and important. Lyrical historical fiction that resonates through the years to today.

The most powerful weapon - Art

This is gripping true story of a Roman woman artist facing a patriarchal society, and is one of the timeless themes that continues throughout history. I listened to it in its entirety one Saturday afternoon. I highly recommend it.

A Depressing Story

Thankfully this was a short book. I thought I’d like it because it was about an artist. I didn’t know the horrible true story of the Artist, Artemis. The author makes the story confusing by remembering stories that her mother had told her. Based on those stories, she goes into a dream like state to escape and cope, making great paintings that tell her story and the women’s perspective of her characters. Her life is just to depressing, dealing with the prejudices to women in the 16th century. And to bring to court a rape charge was a losing battle. She kind of won but to make her point, she had to submit to getting her hands crushed. The rapist was sent to another country and could not work as an artist but of course there was no way to monitor whether he did or did not.