The friendship between two strong and remarkable women—artist Georgia O’Keeffe and her friend and employee Maria Chabot—is explored extensively in this deeply researched biographical novel. The author writes in her afterword that this book is based primarily upon nearly 700 letters of correspondence between the artist and her World War II-era “hired hand” between 1940 and O’Keeffe’s death in 1986. The carefully crafted volume is unusual in that it intersperses first-person, fictive chapters in Maria Chabot’s voice with third-person chapters of biographical summary, leaving the impression that this historical situation is often described more than shown in fictive terms.

Albert writes in her introduction: “[The novel’s] scenes and storylines are crafted from events I have found in letters, biographies, historical works, and unpublished archival material. Its dialogue is imagined, but not exclusively; I have included quotations from the women’s letters and other writings.” The author’s lyrical descriptions of the high desert around Pedernal Mountain abound, giving life to the mesa in north-central New Mexico that essentially served as O’Keeffe’s beloved muse and the subject of many of her paintings. The mountain represented, in O’Keeffe’s mind, the Changing Woman of Navajo mythology. Albert often focuses on the two friends’ shared love of New Mexico’s high desert landscapes, a commonality that softens their uneven and sometimes tumultuous relationship. The prickly, self-contained O’Keeffe exhibited periodic meltdowns in what we know today to be narcissistic, abusive behavior. Chabot and other ardent admirers often acquiesced to O’Keeffe’s demands in an enabling, co-dependent fashion, with many who served the celebrated artist moving on to escape their total immersion in her life.

One of Chabot’s original goals in her youth was to become a published novelist, a dream that never materialized despite her efforts to schedule her writing amongst her other duties at O’Keeffe’s New Mexico homes. It wasn’t until late in Chabot’s life that her work as architect and builder on O’Keeffe’s now famous, centuries-old hacienda in the village of Abiquiu was formally recognized (in addition to her original job of serving as a personal assistant and property manager, making it easier for O’Keeffe to paint). The author writes, “…and what of the woman who enabled O’Keeffe to live comfortably and work productively at the ranch through the difficult days of the war, and who transformed a ruined hacienda into an artist’s living work of art?” Albert’s finely-tuned work answers the above question about O’Keeffe’s and Chabot’s friendship and many more, bringing to light many historically verifiable facts and many plausible fictive interactions as well.

The author packs a great deal of information into the biographical novel’s three sections and twelve chapters, and the volume is likely a welcome addition to the body of serious research and writing about the eminent twentieth-century painter and the people who made her life’s work possible. In many ways, this book is truly a tip of the hat to Chabot and her energetic, groundbreaking work that was unusual for females of her era. Albert, who has already had great success as a mystery novelist, once again shows her versatility in her latest foray into historical novels about famous women. As always, her characterizations are impressive, as is the pacing of the narrative. Fans of Albert’s extensive body of work will not be disappointed with this newest offering.

Albert's Loving Eleanor was a 2917 Eric Hoffer Book Award First Runner-Up for General Fiction

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