Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind

Description

History is storytelling. But some stories remain untold. In fifteenth-century Italy, Paolo Uccello recognizes the artistic talent of his young daughter, Antonia, and teaches her how to create a masterpiece. The girl composes a painting of her mother and inadvertently sparks an enduring mystery. In the present day, a copyist painter receives a commission from a wealthy Chinese businessman to duplicate a Paolo Uccello painting. Together, the painter and his teenage daughter visit China, and in doing so they begin their escape from a tragic family past. In the twenty-second century, a painting is discovered that's rumored to be the work of Paolo Uccello's daughter. This reawakens an art historian's dream of elevating Antonia Uccello, an artist ignored by history because of her gender. Stories untold. Secrets uncovered. But maybe some mysteries should remain shrouded.

Anne Charnock's debut novel, A Calculated Life, was nominated for the 2013 Philip K Dick Award and the 2013 Kitschies Golden Tentacle Award (Debut Novel). Her writing career began in journalism. Her articles appeared in the Guardian, New Scientist, International Herald Tribune, and Geographical. She was educated at the University of East Anglia, where she studied environmental sciences, and at the Manchester School of Art. She travelled widely as a foreign correspondent and spent a year trekking through Egypt, Sudan, and Kenya. In her fine art practice, she tried to answer the questions What is it to be human? What is it to be a machine? Ultimately she decided to write fiction as another route to finding answers. Anne is an active blogger and reviews fiction for the online magazine Strange Horizons. She contributes exhibition reviews and book recommendations to the Huffington Post. She splits her time between London and Chester and, whenever possible, she and her husband, Garry, take off in their little campervan, traveling as far as the Anti-Atlas Mountains in southern Morocco.

"Anne Charnock's Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind is an expert braiding together of past, present, and future that puts a fifteenth-century Italian female artist centre stage to say penetrating things about womanhood, creativity, and history." -The Guardian "The centuries-spanning story gives the mystery an epic feel." -Kirkus Reviews "Acclaimed science-fiction author Anne Charnock combines history, art, and sci-fi in this spinning novel that encompasses fifteenth-century Italy, the present-day, and the twenty-second century." -Bustle "Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind is certainly one of 2015's tip-top releases in science fiction." -Speculiction "An intriguing look at three women in different time periods." -Library Journal "This quiet, lovely, and exquisitely crafted novel is itself a masterclass in composition...As in her debut novel, A Calculated Life, the clarity and refined elegance of Charnock's prose is a significant achievement." -Nina Allan, winner of the 2014 BSFA Novella Award for Spin