The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit: A Novel

(Paperback)

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When fifteen-year-old Victoria grudgingly accompanies her mother to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, she has no idea her life is about to change forever. While there, she falls under the spell of the famous John Singer Sargent portrait The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. Drawn into the portraits shadowy depths, Victoria finds herself transported back in time to the world of the four troubled Boit sisters. By the time she returns to her own world, Victoria understands that the sisters are in serious trouble and need her help. She dedicates herself to solving the mystery of their peculiar loneliness and isolationonly to discover that at the same time she is having an impact on the Boit sisters future, they are having an equally dramatic effect on her own.

Spanning a brief period in the lives of John Singer Sargent and the Boit family, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit is a coming-of-age tale that explores both the murky world of Paris in 1882 and the upheaval going on in Victorias own time, the early sixties, all the while pondering possible answers to the questions raised by Sargents most enigmatic work of art.

Reviews

2022 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards Finalist in Teen: Fiction (13-18 Years)

A debut novel sees a teenage girl step inside a famous painting and confront the sexual predation that lies hidden beneath its composition. . . Victoria is both likable and believable as a teenager of the early 60s. Hillary and the Boit girls are similarly convincing, while the authors adult characters ground the portrayal with quiet realism. The story itself moves along at a good pace. Loyster treats a delicate subject with care and . . . allows neither fact nor fiction to dominate. Readers unfamiliar with Sargents painting will think the backdrop richly imaginative. . . . An absorbing, sensitive meld of fiction and history.
Kirkus Reviews

. . . the characters would prove to be a great discussion starter for an English, art, or history classroom. . . . VERDICT: A good choice for collections where historical fiction is popular.
School Library Journal

The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit is a fascinating and magical work of art about a fascinating and magical work of art.
Annie Barrows, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and best-selling childrens author of the Ivy and Bean series

Far from living in the past, John Singer Sargents compelling portrait of four sisters continues to spark the imagination, inspiring stories of past and present secrets, in Loysters inventive fiction. It isn't just art that can transcend time, but also acts of courage.
Dr. Erica E. Hirshler, author of Sargents Daughters: The Biography of a Painting and Croll Senior Curator of Painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Well written and an absorbing blend of fantasy, art history and an exploration of the type of photographic pedophilia of which Lewis Carroll was suspect. I hope the book will include a copy of the Daughters painting. It is a fascinating mystery all by itself.
Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Newbery Awardwinning author

Literary and beautifully imagined, this book is a treasure for adults and young adults alike.
Charlie Price, Edgar Awardwinning author

In this novel of amazing breadth, the eternal magic of time travel catapults the reader inside one of the most famous portraits of all time. Sara Loyster skillfully weaves issues relevant to teens then and now into a story that both unburies ancient family secrets and solves the portraits many intriguing mysteries. The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit fairly bursts with originality and imagination.
Laurel Davis Huber, author of the award-winning novel The Velveteen Daughter

Sara Loysters imaginative and beautifully rendered journey into the past shows readers the importance of being courageous for others in the face of danger.
S. Baer Lederman, author and editor

Victoria initially surrenders to the invisible pull from John Singer Sargents famous painting of the Boit sisters out of curiosity. Traversing time from Boston, 1963, to Paris, 1882, through the portal of this grand and mysterious painting, she encounters a situation that sets off alarms in a twentieth-century girls head. Art, art history, and the milieu of these different time periods contribute complexity to the tale. Sara Loyster creates a vivid and admirable heroine, someone who acts swiftly and assuredly. It is a focused, fascinating reading experience.
David Howd, childrens librarian

Teenage heroine Victoria walks into a painting at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1963... and finds herself in Paris in 1882! Author Sara Loyster uses magical realism to weave together themes of art, friendship, and suspense, as she transports us into the fascinating world of John Singer Sargent and the Boit sisters.
Armin Arethna, Childrens Librarian

Part historical fiction, part time-travel fantasy, part psychological suspense story, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit is a highly original coming-of-age novel whose themes include friendship, sexual identity, disability, and activism. This retro #MeToo novelor rather #NotOnMyWatch novelfollows fifteen-year-old Victoria Hubbard as she straddles two eras, the fledgling civil rights movement of the early 1960s and the transition in the art world of the 1880s from representational painting to photographic portraiture.
Kate Brubeck, writer and editor

Like Victoria, the heroine of this graceful coming-of-age novel, I have always been drawn to John Singer Sargents famous portrait, but unlike her, I was never able to cross the mystical boundary into the world of the painting. Shy, sheltered, and encumbered by a back brace, Victorias life begins to change when she befriends the Boit sisters and attempts to save them from the predations of a dangerous man.
Mari Coates, award-winning author of The Pelton Papers

Inventive, suspenseful and satisfying, The Daughters of EdwardDarley Boitis a delightful read.
Lisa Braver Moss,award-winning author ofShrug

Author Bio

Sara Loyster is a writer and a librarian with forty years experience working in public libraries. She has a BA in English and creative writing from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and an MLS from UC Berkeley. This is her debut novel. She and her musician husband split their time between Point Reyes Station and Berkeley, CA.