Alchemy of a Blackbird

In 1939 Paris, a group of surrealist artists and writers flees the country ahead of the German invasion of France. Spanish painter Remedios Varo and her lover, poet Benjamin Péret, find sanctuary in Mexico City, where they settle and establish a new intellectual salon for locals and expats. There she also reunites with her friend, British artist Leonora Carrington. Together, Remedios and Leonora find companionship and inspiration, becoming increasingly involved in tarot and the occult. They reason that because they, as creators, make something out of nothing, they are essentially alchemists. After the war, when Benjamin returns to France without her, Remedios feels free to become herself. She releases her paintings to the world and is both successful and acknowledged. McMillan (Gilded Age) bases her novel on real people and events, weaving little-known information about the history of the tarot and the surrealist movement into the narrative and capturing the challenges these women faced in a patriarchal world. The audio is performed by a talented cast of six narrators, who read the point-of-view chapters in engaging accents and character voices.