The Dream Collector, Book II
Sabrine and Vincent
To Be Published by Historium Press
April of 2024
Trailer
Advanced Praise
From Writers
It is difficult to describe The Dream Collector by R.w. Meek without resorting to clichés: “A masterpiece!” “A stunning achievement!” Those phrases, while true, can in no way convey the immersive power of Meek’s writing as his characters journey through 19th century Paris with its experimentations in both art and medicine... A brilliant storyteller, Meek has created a world you simply won’t want to leave and will never forget. — Trish MacEnulty, Historical Fiction Author
The Dream Collector ''Sabrine and Vincent'' is a vast and sprawling epic of a novel that is teeming with vignettes that stand alone in their quality and packed with historical personalities forever making their memorable entrances and exits.
Julian de la Motte
Award winning author of Senlac
From Readers
…your writing always require me to sit in my most comfortable chair so I can take my time reading, circling back many times over perfectly formed sentences and paragraphs. In amazement. Please count me grateful for the pleasure of reading this.
. . . you have a wonderful way with dialogue, and I found that throughout the novel I could really hear and see these characters. The Dream Collector creates an exhilarating feeling of bringing readers right into the room where it happens, where influential thinkers and creatives of this era were expanding ideas of art, the subconscious mind, and the interplay between the two. I was also impressed by the way you bring numerous prominent historical figures across various disciplines to life on the page, which feels like a daunting creative endeavor! But it is one that you pull off quite effortlessly, which certainly speaks to the quality of research put into every aspect of this story. And while this book is filled with well-known figures, I love how at the heart of this novel lies a more quiet yet moving story of sisterhood, Julie’s deep love for Sabrine.
I was moved to tears when reading the chapter about Vincent's death. And many of your descriptions of paintings throughout, effected me deeply, too. Only a great writer can evoke such a tumult of emotions in the reader.
. . .thoroughly enjoyed The Dream Collector. Among other attributes it’s a graduate course in Impressionism. I look at van Gogh and company with much greater appreciation than before... when I reached the end I was quite overwhelmed with emotion and found myself in tears. Later, I tried to analyze why I felt so moved and I think it is the way your writing reveals Vincent's humanity. The sheer tragic beauty of the artist and man. And actually, I would go further and say you make the reader ponder and question the nature of human relationships in general, the complexity of love and friendship, our ability to forgive or defend those who have hurt us. And this is in addition to making us think about the book's continued theme of the relationship between artistic genius and madness. It takes great writing to make a reader care deeply about a character, and you succeed in doing this in your portrayal of Vincent van Gogh. A brilliant (novel), it left me with much to ponder.
Set against the historical backdrop of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art, Book II follows the ardent journey of two sisters, overcoming secret traumas of the past, toward meaning and self-empowerment.
SABRINE, hospitalized for five years at the Salpêtrière Asylum for Women, gains her release due to intervention of her sister Julie Forette and Sigmund Freud. The reunited sisters are introduced to the dazzling art milieu of 1886 Paris, and soon become close friends to the leading Impressionists, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Toulouse-Lautrec. Sabrine, encouraged by avant-garde art critic Félix Fénéon and poet Paul Verlaine, attracts a cult following as a poetess, the enigmatic “Haiku Princess”. Seemingly cured by Freud of her Grand Hysteria and hystero-epileptic attacks, Sabrine soon enters into tumultuous relationships with brothers Theo and Vincent van Gogh.
VINCENT VAN GOGH comes to Paris in 1886 to live with his brother, Theo, a picture dealer, who introduces him to the revolutionary art of Impressionism. Excited by the novel techniques of broken brushstrokes and coloured shadow, Vincent works feverishly to develop his own style. Overtaxed by his hectic lifestyle, drinking, and involvement with the mentally disturbed Sabrine, he journeys to Arles where his friend Lautrec says he will find the light of Japan. Vincent's hope is to establish a brotherhood of artists and form a partnership with Paul Gauguin. Only subconscious conflicts will paint another ending for Vincent van Gogh.