4 / 5

This is truly a book I picked up because of the cover and the name, and I wasn't expecting to pick up the moving story of a real artist who overcame false imprisonment, war and building a life fully for herself.

I really liked Claire's writing and found the way she approached Remidos' story with a fresh take; but found the constant changing of narration confusing and that there were way too many main voices. I think the book would benefit from a narrower lens on the world, even if it limits what the author is able to communicate.

*3.75 stars

This is the story of artist Remedios Varo and her time during WWII and after. This story includes the use of tarot and mysticism - it's about finding Remedios herself, learning new things/life lessons, and relationships.

I greatly enjoyed this book. I LOVE a good historical fiction that has me googling characters to see what they looked like and to learn more about them in general. I went down a Remedios Varo (and characters) rabbit hole that lead to hours of googling.

This book was very unique in the way the story was told. Each chapter featured a tarot card that compared with a person in Remedio's life. Which also leads me to some of my issues with the book...

The first part of each chapter was 3rd person and about Remedios. Then the tarot card was shown, introducing the character in the next part of the chapter, which was then in first person. I was not a fan of the switch between 3rd and 1st person over and over.

The book also had odd pacing. The first half took place over the span of WWII. The second half took place after and till the end of Remedios' life. I found I would get lost when it felt like no time had passed and the next sentence mentioned it was 10 years later. And then even later after that.

Overall, I loved the tarot included within the book and the mysticism. It has me wanting to pull my own tarot deck back out. I would definitely recommend this read to anyone with a love of WWII.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance e-copy of this book.

A story of art, independence and self-realization. This was a bit outside of my scope of interests, however, I found it fascinating!

The Alchemy of a Blackbird by Clair Mcmillian was a historical fiction book with the main characters based on real people. This book follows Remdios Varo a surrealist painter in living in Paris with Benjamin Peret, a French Poet bfore the war breaks out. Remdios is painting foregeries of famouse artwork and also dabbling in Tarot cards. They are both arrested and imprisioned and are let go as the Germans take over the country. She soon finds herself in Marseille, France and soon is helping to get people out of France by forgeing documents. Remdios and Benjamin arrive in Mexico where they are reunited with other expats from France including her friend Leonora Carrington. What I liked about the book was that each chapter had a drawing of a tarot card with the meaning of the card and then that card represented a person in the book. That person then the rest of the chapter was in their point of view. It gave you insight to almost everyone in the book. I had never heard of Remdios Varo or any of the other people in the book excecpt for Frida Kahlo. She made a small appearracne in one of the chapters. After reading this I had to look up the people in the book to get a better understanding of what they did during that time period. This book was beautifully written and the knowledge of the tarot cards was an insight to the art of magic.

I could have sworn I'd reviewed this right after finishing reading, but apparently not, or I dreamt that I reviewed it. Which is a pity because I could have gone into more detail... In any case, as I'm a scholar of surrealism, I was eager to read this and see how the author worked the famous friendship of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo into a novel. (That also makes me a somewhat dangerous reviewer.)

From what I know of the two artists, the novel is well grounded in facts, and the author does clarify some of the ways in which she adjusted the facts or added characters for whom there is no specific historical evidence. I always appreciate when novelists writing about historical figures let us know where they've used a bit of dramatic license.

The novel focuses on Remedios Varo, beginning during her relatively brief Paris period, and taking us through her wartime escape to Marseilles, days with Varian Fry's group of fleeing surrealists, and then follows her life in Mexico, which is where she and Leonora Carrington developed their remarkable friendship (in the book, the two are already friends to some extent in Paris, which is not impossible). In its structure, the novel makes use of tarot cards, which are assigned to individual significant characters, through whose eyes we see aspects of the story unfold. While initially this threw me just slightly, I rapidly caught on and enjoyed the various perspectives and how they were linked to specific tarot cards. Tarot cards are, indeed, an important thread throughout the book, as Varo acquires a set, learns how to use it, and several sets make their appearance throughout, including the famous set designed by the surrealists while they were trapped in Marseilles awaiting passage out of Europe.

One of the main themes here is Varo's arduous journey toward becoming a confident and major artist. She's depicted as young and lacking confidence for much of the novel, living in the shadow of her lover Benjamin Péret and not highly valued by some of the male or even female surrealists. There is some truth to this depiction. She was younger than most of the men, and during the 1930s and early 40s most male surrealists were still inclined to view the women in their midst through the concept of the femme=enfant, which some of the women (including Carrington) did seem to embody. The men were, however, becoming more aware of women as creative figures in their own right, partly as a result of so many remarkable women joining the Paris circle or even being co-founders of surrealist groups in other countries such as England and Czechoslovakia. Re Varo herself, it is certainly true that her major works all date from her Mexican period. Yet it is not as if she arrived in Paris as a young waif. Varo had studied in her native Spain, where she received her diploma in 1930 and married her first husband Gerardo Lizárraga that same year. In Barcelona, she was involved in the surrealist-adjacent group Logicofobista prior to meeting Péret and moving to Paris. I suspect that some of her lack of prominence within Paris surrealism was due to the perilous period during which she was part of the group, namely during the Spanish Civil War and the early days of World War II.

I wonder too whether in Mexico Varo was actually shyer or less confident than her younger friend Carrington (scholars more familiar with the personalities of the two might have something to say about that). Both were refugees, but Carrington arrived in Mexico not all that long after experiencing psychiatric hospitalization and was soon pregnant with her eldest son, whereas Varo was a native speaker of Spanish and arrived with her existing partner Péret. In any case, however, it's indisputable that Varo and Carrington became very close friends and investigated both serious and playful aspects of the occult, which the novel covers.

Considering this as a novel, without requiring it to be 100% historically accurate or a biography of Varo, I found this to be an engaging tale of a 20th century female artist's often difficult life and significant friendship with another female artist, spiced with their explorations of the occult. While there are things that I would have liked to see developed in more depth (but that would make it a different book), I enjoyed reading it and am sure many others will too.

Alchemy of a Blackbird is essentially about a young artist who feels blocked creatively and wonders when she's finally going to experience the "flow state" her fellow artists friends seem to tap into. She is drawn to the tarot, crystals, dreams, and other seemingly random objects she collects.
This book is told in a unique way. The first half of every chapter is told in the third person, focusing on Remedios. A tarot card is then presented along with the name of the card and a brief description of its meaning. Underneath the name of the card is the name of the character who will be voicing the rest of the chapter.
Since I know almost nothing about the art world and had no idea who Remedios Varo was, this book felt a little flat to me, but would be great for people looking for a light, low-stress read.

I was really excited about this book when I first heard about it because it was going to have a bit of Tarot and ultimately be about the power of creativity with a strong feminist overtone. I was a little surprised when I finished reading this book because it wasn't the occult historical fiction I was hoping for. It featured the Tarot in a more abstract way and for that reason it had a pretty small role in the story. There were a lot of characters in the book with not a lot of background information, so I found the story a little chaotic. I also found it a little boring and I wish it was infused with more magic. I think Remedios' foray into the Tarot and her philosophical/spiritual beliefs could have been more of the central focus of the book, as I think that was arguably the most interesting thing about her and her work. Alchemy of a Blackbird is more of an an overview of her life which is fine, but the title, and cover suggest something more mystical, which wasn't featured enough in this story, in my opinion. With that being said, I do think this book will attract a fans of art history and fans looking for a tarot inspired story. What ever it is that draws you to this book, I think everyone will appreciate this story about the obscure artist Remedios Varo and her friendships and relationships in artist circles in France and Mexico, as she is still not as well known as some of her contemporaries.

I loved the way Claire McMillan wrote this, it worked so well overall and I was invested in what was going on in this story. It worked well overall as a historical novel and it worked well overall, I enjoyed getting to know the characters and felt like they belonged in this world. It left me wanting to read more and I'm glad I read this.

"She tried to explain all this to Benjamin, who’d looked at her blankly and calmly stated that of course she should make her own work a priority if that was important to her. He never acknowledged that their lack of money and their life of constant parties prevented her from finding time in front of her easel. She’d thought of Cinderella. Remedios could go to her easel as soon as she finished a never-ending list of chores."

My thanks to NetGalley and Atria for the opportunity to read Alchemy of a Blackbird by Claire McMillan about two artists I was unfamiliar with. Fascinating! And has some new me to a rabbit hole to learn more, including more about Tarot.

This was so interesting and different from my usual reading tastes and I’m glad I jumped into it. Lots of issues here - artists trying to be successful amidst an approaching war, women’s roles in relationships and taking big risks in life. Love the Tarot history. Makes me want to do more research on the artists and their lives. I love this line: “What are recipes if not an act of magic?” Well done!