Women Friends

The Women Friends is a series of novellas written by Emma Rose Millar and Miriam Drori, and based on the painting of the same name by Gustav Klimt. On this page, you can find the blurb and excerpts from reviews of the novellas: The Women Friends, as well as links to relevant posts and articles.

Update: The three novellas that make up The Women Friends are not currently available to buy, but they will be back.

On this page, you can find the blurb and excerpts from reviews of the novellas: The Women Friends, as well as links to relevant posts and articles.

The Women Friends is a series of novellas written by Emma Rose Millar and Miriam Drori, and based on the painting of the same name by Gustav Klimt. The first in the series, The Women Friends: Selina, was published by Crooked Cat on 1st December, 2016 and is available from Amazon.

the-women-friends-1917

This page lists links to posts and articles describing the historical and geographical settings of the novellas, as well as providing information about Klimt and his paintings. It continues to be updated regularly.

The Women Friends: Selina

Who is the young woman with the haunting gaze in Gustav Klimt’s 1917 masterpiece, The Women Friends?

Selina Brunner is running from the demons of her past, cut off from her family in a sleepy Tyrolean village, and lost in the soulless city of Vienna, where everything – even one’s very existence – is a lie.

When, amidst growing fear of sinister developments in Vienna, an exotic stranger comes to town, Selina finds old passions reignited and her whole world turned upside down.

The Women Friends: Selina is the first of several fictional tales about the women who inspired this great artist.

A Reading from The Women Friends: Selina

Excerpts from Reviews of The Women Friends: Selina

If Selina is fictional, then the authors never let us realize that, instead they breathe such life into her, we must conclude that she is real.

…she [Selina] notes that: “Broken glass lay glinting in the Viennese sunshine and dogs scavenged for food,” and she asks, “how had this city of opera and Sachertorte slipped so swiftly into barbarism?”

Throughout the telling of Selina’s story, Klimt’s influence on the authors is clear, as Klimt painted with color, so Millar and Drori paint with words.

We can all too easily forget that it did seemingly happen “overnight” because these were emotions and opinions and feelings that had been brewing in the citizens minds well before Hitler came to power, before he stepped foot into Austria. He came to power because people were already agreeing with him about everything, including the final solution.

…while this story is fictitious, the heart of it rings true from page to page.

I highly recommend this book. I love, love loved it!!! I was sad that it had to end.

This captivating novella, told from the point of view of a young Austrian seamstress who becomes one of Gustav Klimt’s models, paints a vivid picture of life in Vienna during the inter-war years. The characters are well-drawn and believable, and the storyline demonstrates how quickly the lives of ordinary people can be transformed in the wake of political upheaval. Ms Millar and Ms Drori are both very talented authors in their own right, and their combined skills have produced a masterpiece.

Wonderful story set around the time of the 2nd World War, Incredibly descriptive and shocking depicting the reality of the antisemitism that was prevalent against the Jewish population.