Gabriële

The Berest sisters follow up Anne’s The Postcard with a colorful portrait of their great-grandmother Gabriële Buffet-Picabia. In the early 1900s, Gabriële is an accomplished musician studying at the Schola Cantorum in Rome when she’s introduced to artist Francis Picabia. “Spellbound,” she sets aside her interest in music to marry him and support his career, finding satisfaction in their intellectual bond. Among the luminaries that populate the novel are Marcel Duchamp, whom Gabriële meets and introduces to Francis. They add the poet Guillaume Apollinaire to their circle, and the four lead the burgeoning Dada movement. When a trip to America presents itself as an opportunity to rekindle Francis’s career (and boost his mood), Gabriële cannily suggests they make the journey. Back in Europe, Gabriële grows tired of fixing Francis’s problems, including arranging for him to work as a driver during WWI to avoid combat, and she even ensures the mercurial Francis keeps up his extramarital affair with writer Germaine Everling. With lyrical prose, the Berests blend historical context with more intimate insights, such as their attempt to understand why the Picabias were cold to their children. Readers with an affinity for early 20th-century art will especially enjoy this. (Apr.)