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An English Protestant family hires Marta, a Catholic refugee from Ukraine, to be their cook/nanny. She unexpectedly bonds with their older child, the bright but withdrawn Gregory. When Marta mentions that she misses having a Madonna icon in the kitchen, Gregory sets out to get her one.
This is a lovely, sensitively written book about process, first of searching for a Madonna and then, in great detail, of making one. Marta is glad to have a home and a job, but she went through a lot of trauma and she's in a strange land where she doesn't fit in. Gregory begins the project as an act of love but ends up teaching himself craft and art for the sake of the work itself, and possibly on the path to becoming an artist.
The illustrations are great and conclude with an amazing full-color reproduction of the Madonna, meticulously detailed. I couldn't stop looking at it.
This is a lovely, sensitively written book about process, first of searching for a Madonna and then, in great detail, of making one. Marta is glad to have a home and a job, but she went through a lot of trauma and she's in a strange land where she doesn't fit in. Gregory begins the project as an act of love but ends up teaching himself craft and art for the sake of the work itself, and possibly on the path to becoming an artist.
The illustrations are great and conclude with an amazing full-color reproduction of the Madonna, meticulously detailed. I couldn't stop looking at it.
