Susan Vreeland is the internationally known author of art-related historical fiction. Four of her books are New York Times bestsellers.

LISETTE'S LIST presents one woman's yearning for art at a time when her family's collection of paintings had to be hidden in the south of France from Nazi art thieves. CLARA AND MR. TIFFANY reveals the talented woman who conceived of and designed the well-loved Tiffany leaded glass lamps. LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY depicts Renoir's masterpiece, the personalities involved in its making, and the joie de vivre of late 19th-century Paris. LIFE STUDIES is a collection of stories of Impressionist painters told by people who knew them, as well as contemporary individuals encountering art in meaningful ways. GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE traces an alleged Vermeer painting through the centuries. THE PASSION OF ARTEMISIA illuminates Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. THE FOREST LOVER follows rebel British Columbia painter Emily Carr in her encounters with native peoples and cultures. WHAT LOVE SEES tells the love story of a blind couple who refuse to accept limitations.

Four of these books have been winners of the Theodor Geisel Award, the highest honor given by the San Diego Book Awards. Vreeland's novels have been translated into 26 languages, and have frequently been selected as Book Sense Picks. She was a high school English teacher in San Diego for 30 years.

Books by Susan Vreeland

Luncheon of the Boating Party

by Susan Vreeland

With her richly textured novels, Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of artists' lives. Now, as she did in Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Vreeland once again focuses on a single painting, Auguste Renoir's instantly recognizable masterpiece Luncheon of the Boating Party. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models, the novel illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era.

The Forest Lover

by Susan Vreeland - Fiction

It was Emily Carr (1871-1945) - not Georgia O'Keeffe or Frida Kahlo - who first blazed a path for women artists. Her boldly original landscapes are praised today for capturing an untamed British Columbia and its indigenous peoples just before industrialization would change them forever. Now Susan Vreeland brings to life this fiercely independent and underappreciated figure.

The Passion of Artemisia

by Susan Vreeland - Fiction, Historical Fiction

One of the few female post-Renaissance painters to achieve fame during her own era, Artemisia Gentileschi led a remarkably "modern" life. Susan Vreeland tells Artemisia's captivating story, beginning with her public humiliation in a rape trial at the age of eighteen, and continuing through her father's betrayal, her marriage of convenience, motherhood, and growing fame as an artist.

Girl in Hyacinth Blue

by Susan Vreeland