The Secret Life Of Sunflowers: A gripping, inspiring novel based on the true story of Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh's sister-in-law (Light & Life Series Book 1)

At the time that I read this book with my book group (June 2024), it seemed that many people who hadn’t yet read it, wanted to read it. There were holds on all the library copies, and even the used copies available to purchase online were priced as high as the new copies. As of this writing, 22,612 people have read and rated it on Goodreads – and while the total reviews add up to 4.14, not everyone liked it.

I am in the “not” camp. Or at least “not very much." It’s a dual timeline novel, telling both the story of Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law as well as a modern-day tale of a Hollywood auctioneer who finds her famous grandmother’s diary, which turns out to be Johanna’s and not her grandmother’s after all.

I have recently read at least three novels where a just-deceased unconventional grandmother leaves her granddaughter a diary, letters, or other memorabilia that hint at a family secret. The grandmother has departed before she can share the secret, and it’s up to the granddaughter to discover the truth. So this seems to be a newer-to-me literary trope and can be entertaining. But this time around, the two timelines just didn’t work for me.

Johanna dedicated her life as a 28-year-old widow with a baby in the 1800s, without any means of supporting herself, to promoting Vincent’s legacy and her husband Theo’s memory. She took her inheritance of all of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings and managed to introduce Vincent’s talent to the world.

The research for this historical novel was extensive, and the book contains many inspirational quotes attributed to Johanna from her diary and letters. Molnar states in her author’s note that she added the modern story of Emsley Wilson to provide “a lighter counterbalance in the form of a modern-day heroine.” Yes, the lighter story helped alleviate the heaviness of Johanna’s quest. But it was basically chick-lit and jarring in its very different flavor. Molnar explains that while she was driven to tell Johanna’s story, “I don’t write historical fiction. I don’t write women’s fiction. I don’t write stories based on true events.” So then, I’m thinking she wasn’t the one to write this story.

Despite my complaints, I liked the theme of strong women who persevere despite the odds. I liked learning how Johanna was able to overcome the difficulties and succeed in her goal to promote Vincent’s talent. I was amazed at not knowing that we have Johanna to thank for saving Vincent’s paintings and sharing them with the world who today considers him “among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art.”

You will learn a lot about Vincent from reading this book, though you won’t learn the cause of his brother Theo’s death (information which is available on Wikipedia). You will read Johanna’s first interpretations of Vincent’s paintings, which are thoughtful and creative. You will learn about sunflowers, although not about their “secret life.”

What did my book group think? We all agreed with the points made in this review. It’s a book both good and not so good. So for those reasons, if you do read this (which was for me a three-star book), I think you will admire Johanna for her strength, and learn more about women during this time period as well as about Vincent van Gogh.