The Afterlives of Doctor Gachet is a story about a painting, and the subject of a painting. It is a profound meditation on history, truth and storytelling... Who is that mournful man in the painting? The Afterlives of Doctor Gachet tells the story of Paul Ferdinand Gachet, the subject of one of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous portraits: one that shows what the artist called ‘the heartbroken expression of our times’. But what caused such heartbreak?
This thrilling historical novel follows Doctor Gachet from asylums to art galleries, from the bloody siege of Paris to life with Van Gogh in Auvers, and from the bunkers of Nazi Germany to a reclusive billionaire in Tokyo, to uncover the secrets behind that grief-stricken smile.
Sam Meekings is a British poet and novelist. He has spent the last ten years travelling and working in China and the Middle East. He currently balances his time between writing, teaching, raising two children as a single father, and drinking copious amounts of tea.
