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Let Me Tell You About A Man I Knew

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Let Me Tell You About A Man I Knew

By: Susan Fletcher
Narrated by: Zara Ramm
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Provence, May 1889. The hospital of Saint-Paul-de Mausole is home to the mentally ill. An old monastery, it sits at the foot of Les Alpilles mountains amongst wheat fields, herbs and olive groves. For years, the fragile have come here and lived quietly, found rest behind the shutters and high, sun-baked walls.

Tales of the new arrival - his savagery, his paintings, his copper-red hair - are quick to find the warden's wife. From her small white cottage, Jeanne Trabuc watches him - how he sets his easel amongst the trees, the irises and the fields of wheat, and paints in the heat of the day.

Jeanne knows the rules; she knows not to approach the patients at Saint-Paul. But this man - paint-smelling, dirty, troubled and intense - is, she thinks, worth talking to. So ignoring her husband's wishes, the dangers and despite the word mad, Jeanne climbs over the hospital wall. She will find that the painter will change all their lives.

Let Me Tell You About A Man I Knew is a beautiful novel about the repercussions of longing, of loneliness and of passion for life. But it's also about love - and how it alters over time.©2016 Susan Fletcher Historical Fiction Fiction Marriage
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Critic reviews

A touching and finely written novel
A tender, passionate tale of reverie and redemption
Seductive . . . [a] lushly written, powerfully charged novel that imagines a friendship between a middle-aged warden's wife and Vincent Van Gogh
Fletcher explores the concept of 'madness' with compassion, and her beautiful, sensuous writing makes you see [van Gogh's] paintings with a fresh eye
An exquisitely written portrait of a marriage. I loved it
This is a novel about the power of seeing and being seen, the transcendence of everyday beauty, commonplace joys. Fletcher unpeels with delicacy and insight the complex layers of the human heart
Fletcher has always attracted praise for the lyricism of her prose . . . here she finds a new restraint that not only intensifies the beauty of her language but feels truer and more profound
All stars
Most relevant
Beautiful, thought provoking, loved this book. Always wonderful writing from Susan Fletcher. Get lost in Provence and get an insight into Van Gogh”s later life and work and the people who may have shared it. This is only part of this wonderful book.

Beautiful, thought provoking, loved this book. Always wonderful writing from Susan Fletcher

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I spent many happy hours listening to this wonderful tale of the interaction between Vincent van Gogh and the wife of his Provence sanatorium's supervisor.

Based on one sentence in a letter Vincent sent to his brother Theo, the narrative unravels many threads about love, friendship, marriage, creative impulses (good and bad) beauty and mental health.

Susan Fletcher is a talented storyteller and brings the past alive in a very accessible way. I could see Vincent in his Provence world, painting in the fields and arousing local gossip.

Starry, starry paintings; starry, starry novel. Loved every minute of it.

Beautiful writing, classy story.

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This is by far the most wonderful story I have listened to for a very long time.
A tale that weaves so many characters, and their lives together.
I wept, with grief, but also for the love portrayed.
It will stay with me for a long while.

Beautiful!

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Absolutely beautiful, I loved every moment and the reader was superb . I will listen to more of the author and buy copies of this book for friends

Magnificent!

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This was an amazing story. A chance to re-see history and start seeing the human side of things. I loved this. And I cried! Susan Fletcher is just an amazing story writer and this almost topped Corrag for me.

Susan Fletcher

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