A New York Times bestseller.
"Exquisite. A must-read.” —Kristin Hannah
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the smash bestseller Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel is an unforgettable story of an artist and muse, friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting Christina’s World.
"Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn’t like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won’t stay hidden."
To Christina Olson, the entire world is her family farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. The only daughter in a family of sons, Christina is tied to her home by health and circumstance, and seems destined for a small life. Instead, she becomes Andrew Wyeth’s first great inspiration, and the subject of one of the best-known paintings of the twentieth century, Christina’s World.
As she did in her beloved bestseller Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline interweaves fact and fiction to vividly reimagine a real moment in history. A Piece of the World is a powerful work of historical fiction about the flesh-and-blood woman behind the portrait, her complicated relationship to her family and inheritance, and how an unlikely friendship between artist and muse can come together to forge a new and timeless legacy.
This paperback edition includes a color reproduction of Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World, along with a Q&A with the author, and a bonus short story, "Stranded in Ice."