The Painter's Wife

Marguerite Andersen is a professor of French studies at the University
of Guelph.

The Painter’s Wife is a beautiful book about art and passion. It tells
the story of Evelyn Rowat, wife of the Quebec painter René Marcil. From
Evelyn’s horrible childhood, to her brilliant career as a fashion
designer, to the 50 years of delight and agony that characterized her
union with René, Durand and translator Sheila Fischman find the right
words, the right rhythm, and the right colour.

Evelyn adored and indulged her gifted husband. They lived in New York,
Paris, London, Venice, San Francisco, and Toronto, in Provence and on
the shores of the St. Lawrence River. After his death in Toronto,
Evelyn, 81, buys a computer to index René’s paintings and continues
to promote his work. “She doesn’t want to vanish from this earth
without doing all she can to make known and appreciated the work of the
painter René Marcil.” Such is love, says Durand, “love in its fiery
vitality.”