Links: Author's Website / Show Article /

Sacre Bleu takes on the art world with Christopher Moore's normal skewed perception of what is normal, or even real. On the surface, it's the story of a young artist, Lucien Lussard, growing up in 19th century Paris, a period when some of the greatest artists of history walked the same pavement as our hero. But, strangely enough, it's also the story of the color blue. But not just any shade of blue, it's the story of the Sacred Blue, the color decreed by the Catholic Church to be the only correct color for the cloak of Mary. Naturally, this was a very special, very expensive, and very hard to acquire color. It also happened to have a deep connection with the ancient pagans as well. And the pagan's were not quite as gone as the church would have like.

Product Description: It is the color of the Virgin Mary's cloak, a dazzling pigment desired by artists, an exquisite hue infused with danger, adventure, and perhaps even the supernatural. It is ... Sacré Bleu

In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh went into a cornfield and shot himself. Or did he? Why would an artist at the height of his creative powers attempt to take his own life ... and then walk a mile to a doctor's house for help? Who was the crooked little "color man" Vincent had claimed was stalking him across France? And why had the painter recently become deathly afraid of a certain shade of blue?

These are just a few of the questions confronting Vincent's friends—baker-turned-painter Lucien Lessard and bon vivant Henri Toulouse-Lautrec—who vow to discover the truth about van Gogh's untimely death. Their quest will lead them on a surreal odyssey and brothel-crawl deep into the art world of late nineteenth-century Paris.

(Source: William Morrow)