REVIEW: The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack

In The Memory Painter: A Novel by Gwendolyn Womack, When neurogeneticist Linz Jacobs first saw the painting that depicted the nightmare she repeatedly had growing up, she knew she had to find the artist. But as soon as she met Bryan Pierce, her world changed completely. Drawn to him in an inexplicable way, she became distracted by both the the visions he revealed to her and by Bryan himself. Caught in a tangled web of incidents in the past and the present that threaten their safety, Linz puts her trust in him knowing that it is probably unwise to do so. Yet she can’t help but feel like there is some force bigger than themselves pushing them together.

‘Every brushstroke screamed back at her. Somehow this artist had reached into her mind and captured something only known to her.’

The dreams that have haunted Bryan for most of his life have been both a blessing and a curse. People around him have never believed he could wake up and know how to speak Greek or to paint like a master artist, but that is exactly what happens. Meeting Linz was the catalyst for Bryan’s most intense vision yet. This time, of a group of scientists who were working on a cure for Alzheimer’s but ended up finding trouble and tragedy. He knows this is the moment where he will begin to put things together and find out if his visions are real or only dreams. With Linz’s help, Bryan aims to find the truth while hopefully keeping them out of danger.

‘…I find myself wondering if the laws of karma exist. Are souls destined to love or hate the same souls again and again? Or can we achieve some kind of resolution or enlightenment?’

The Memory Painter was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Imaginative, emotional and complex, this was at its core a love story that spanned the better part of ten thousand years. Talk about an epic romance, right?

“Between the beginning and the end, this life is but one moment.”

Trying to explain this story is like trying to explain the movie The Matrix to someone who has never seen it before. It’s something you have to just sit back and experience. A mix of history, romance and science fiction that centers around art and academia, author Gwendolyn Womack created a novel that takes readers on one amazing journey. Just the historical aspect with parts of the story set in Egypt, China, Australia and even Canada, kept me on my toes and held my attention completely. I found myself second-guessing what I thought I had figured out all the way through till the end. That’s when the final pieces fell into place and took me by surprise with that final twist.

Main characters Bryan and Linz were both quite compelling on their own but it was intriguing to see them dancing around each other, trying to deny their attraction while solving the riddle behind Bryan’s visions. There were several other supporting characters who added to the mystery, with all of their lives intersecting and twining around one another in some intricate way. Without giving too much away, I will say I went into this thinking Bryan was time traveling but it was instead a question of whether his visions were real memories from previous lives or simply dreams. That was the crux of what he and Linz were trying to determine. I thought that was a nice set-up for a novel and it worked very well here.

What a unique and enjoyable journey The Memory Painter was. I hope to see more about Bryan and Linz in the future as the thread was left open at the ending. Either way, I definitely look forward to whatever Gwendolyn Womack has in store for us next.

Book Info:

 Published April 28th 2015 | Picador |

Two lovers who have traveled across time. A team of scientists at the cutting edge of memory research. A miracle drug that unlocks an ancient mystery.

Bryan Pierce is an internationally famous artist whose paintings have dazzled the world. But there’s a secret to his success: Every canvas is inspired by an unusually vivid dream. When Bryan awakes, he possesses extraordinary new skills…like the ability to speak obscure languages and an inexplicable genius for chess. All his life, he has wondered if his dreams are recollections, if he is re-experiencing other people’s lives.

Linz Jacobs is a brilliant neurogeneticist, absorbed in decoding the genes that help the brain make memories, until she is confronted with an exact rendering of a recurring nightmare at one of Bryan’s shows. She tracks down the elusive artist, and their meeting triggers Bryan’s most powerful dream yet: visions of a team of scientists who, on the verge of discovering a cure for Alzheimer’s, died in a lab explosion decades ago.

As Bryan becomes obsessed with the mysterious circumstances surrounding the scientists’ deaths, his dreams begin to reveal what happened at the lab, as well as a deeper mystery that may lead all the way to ancient Egypt. Together, Bryan and Linz start to discern a pattern. But a deadly enemy watches their every move, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that the past stays buried.

A taut thriller and a timeless love story spanning six continents and 10,000 years of history, The Memory Painter by Gwendolyn Womack is a riveting debut novel unlike any you’ve ever read.