Gwendolyn Womack's tale dazzles.” —US Weekly (Standout Spring Novels) “The guy-meets-girl story as you've never heard it before...A mind-explosion of a journey ensues that involves time travel, mystery, love, and a whole lot of plot twists.” —Refinery29 “Suspenseful and ambitious...We predict The Memory Painter 's story of love and revenge will be one of 2015's biggest literary hits.” —Paste Magazine (Best New Books of the Month) “It's a thriller as well as a love story, spanning 10,000 years of history. And it sounds freaking mental.” —io9, The Most Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Month “A time-travel tale, stylishly told.” —Elle Canada “Womack's debut is one of those rare works that impresses from the first vivid, unsettling scene, gradually building an atmosphere of secrecy and trepidation that ensures that the suspense remains high throughout. Part mystery, part science-fiction plot and part romance, this is a novel with broad cross-genre appeal, and the well-drawn scenes and flashes of humor and insight give this thriller a rare depth as well.” —RT Book Reviews “It's best not to try to analyze the ambitious plot of this thriller, which combines romance, fantasy, and adventure; just hang on for a wild and entertaining ride around the world and through the centuries back to ancient Egypt.” —Library Journal (starred review) “A page turner that will keep readers up late into the night. Readers who love adventure, romance and fantasy will love this book.” —The Vancouver Sun “Womack makes a romantic case for the existence of destiny...and does a beautiful job...Dive into this sweeping, romantic journey that will leave you breathless and a little unsure of where in time you've landed.” —Kirkus Reviews (One of the Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Reads of the Month) “Well-drawn historical flashbacks, engaging characters, and a twisty ending make this thrilling blend of neuroscience, romance, and ancient worlds good bets for Da Vinci Code and Outlander fans.” —Booklist “Some debuts cause a stir. [But] The Memory Painter makes quite a splash... On its surface, The Memory Painter reads like sci-fi. Fundamentally it speaks to the cultural, emotional, and spiritual connectedness that binds us all.” —New York Journal of Books “The Memory Painter is romantic and fun, full of history and science teased out at the perfect pace.” —BookRiot “Womack has crafted a dark story defined by fast-paced prose that at moments sings poetic...at the novel's conclusion, all story threads have been tightened into a snug, satisfying knot.” —ZYZZYVA “The chapters recounting [Bryan and Linz's] past lives are chock full of interesting historical tidbits...like being on a movie-themed ride at Disneyland.” —Publishers Weekly “In The Memory Painter , Gwendolyn Womack delivers a multi-layered debut novel like no other: passing through the veils of time and brimming with history, mystery, science, intrigue, and passion.” —Katherine Neville, New York Times and No. 1 internationally bestselling author “The Memory Painter is an absolute masterpiece. Spellbinding from beginning to end, this brilliantly woven tale of time-crossed lovers will keep you hooked well into the wee hours. Gwendolyn Womack is a storytelling virtuosa, whose sexy, action-packed mind-boggler of a book is destined to become a classic.” —Anne Fortier, New York Times bestselling author of Juliet and The Lost Sisterhood “A sweeping, mesmerizing feat of absolute magic. Ten thousand love stories, tales of revenge, inventions, histories, mysteries, and memories combine to serve up a complex and utterly riveting novel that leaves you with feelings of awe and wonder. A star is born!” —M. J. Rose, New York Times bestselling author of The Witch of Painted Sorrows “Layers of past and present form a rich pastry of a narrativepoignant and thoughtful, rich and suspenseful, filled with intrigue and dripping with meaning. Womack's meditation on the beautiful mystery of memory is a riveting read from cover to cover, leaving us with the breathless realization that while grief may be eternal, so is love.” —Charlie Lovett, New York Times bestselling author of The Bookman's Tale and First Impressions
04/20/2015 In Womack's debut novel, protagonists Bryan, the memory painter of the title, and Linz, a neurogeneticist studying memory, meet by accident in an exhibit of ancient Egyptian art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. They each discover that the other suffers from powerful dreams; Bryan's are the source of pictures he paints in the style of Jan van Eyck. As the plot lurches from one coincidence to the next, it becomes clear to Bryan that the dreams are related, and that he and Linz have known each other in past lives. Indeed, Bryan has been the ancient Roman priest Origenes Adamantius, Russian writer Alexander Pushkin, a Japanese samurai, a scientist in the 1980s who was on the brink of a breakthrough in Alzheimer's research, and van Eyck as well. As a result he can speak 30 languages, and when he falls in love with Linz he knows it's not the first time. Suffering from the excruciating dreams but gaining more and more knowledge, Bryan begins to suspect that Linz's father, the head of a powerful company called Medicor, is somehow complicit in an evil scheme that has lasted millennia. Bryan only has to wait for Linz's dreams to catch up with his for them somehow to save the world from a threat that began with the ancient Egyptians. The chapters recounting their past lives are chock full of interesting historical tidbits, but careening through them feels more like being on a movie-themed ride at Disneyland than reading a novel. (May)
It's a thriller as well as a love story, spanning 10,000 years of history. And it sounds freaking mental.
The Most Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy Boo io9
Layers of past and present form a rich pastry of a narrative--poignant and thoughtful, rich and suspenseful, filled with intrigue and dripping with meaning. Womack's meditation on the beautiful mystery of memory is a riveting read from cover to cover, leaving us with the breathless realization that while grief may be eternal, so is love.
New York Times bestselling author of The Bookman Charlie Lovett
A sweeping, mesmerizing feat of absolute magic. Ten thousand love stories, tales of revenge, inventions, histories, mysteries, and memories combine to serve up a complex and utterly riveting novel that leaves you with feelings of awe and wonder. A star is born!
New York Times bestselling author of The Witch of M. J. Rose
The Memory Painter is an absolute masterpiece. Spellbinding from beginning to end, this brilliantly woven tale of time-crossed lovers will keep you hooked well into the wee hours. Gwendolyn Womack is a storytelling virtuosa, whose sexy, action-packed mind-boggler of a book is destined to become a classic.
New York Times bestselling author of Juliet and Th Anne Fortier
In The Memory Painter , Gwendolyn Womack delivers a multi-layered debut novel like no other: passing through the veils of time and brimming with history, mystery, science, intrigue, and passion.
New York Times and No. 1 internationally bestselli Katherine Neville
2015-02-17 Four scientists receive a grant to study memory in the hope of finding a cure for Alzheimer's and make the discovery of a lifetime—or lifetimes.Womack's debut novel has many beginnings, but the crux of the story starts in 1982, when a research team led by Michael Backer develops an Alzheimer's drug called Renovo that produces startling results. Michael, amazed by what his patients can now remember, begins to wonder what the drug might do for a healthy mind—and the story races off at an ever intensifying rate from there, building layer upon layer. Choices made in 1982 have ramifications in the present, and all comes to a head when Bryan Pierce, an artist who paints the extremely lifelike dreams he suffers from, meets Linz Jacobs, a brilliant scientist also troubled by a childhood dream, and is instantly drawn to her. More than that, he remembers her. But the recognition goes far beyond this life. As Bryan and Linz deepen their connection, it becomes clear their dreams are more akin to "remember[ing] an entire life": they've fallen in love in ancient Egypt and ancient Rome; lived as Vikings and musicians and poets. But how does this connect to Renovo? And how can "the human psyche…process such information?" At times, the complex plot, which covers thousands of years of history when all is said and done, seems to rely on coincidence and circumstance to propel itself toward a conclusion; readers will just have to try their best to ignore this. Womack makes a romantic case for the existence of destiny, though, and does a beautiful job—especially in the slower-paced "recall" passages—of building emotional depth that can be achieved only by lovers unbound by time. Dive into this sweeping, romantic journey that will leave you breathless and a little unsure of where in time you've landed.