Someone Always Nearby

By: Susan Wittig Albert

Narrated by: Maria McCann

In 1940, art-world icon Georgia O'Keeffe bought a house in a mountain-rimmed New Mexico desert, planning to live there for six months every year. To manage her remote household while she paints, O'Keeffe invited Maria Chabot—a young and naïve would-be writer—to join her.

Their tempestuous relationship endured throughout the chaotic years of WW2, the death of Georgia's domineering, philandering husband (famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz), and Maria's design and building of a remarkable adobe house and studio for the artist in the native village of Abiquiu—a generous gift from an exceptional friend.

An evocative story that explores the dimensions of friendship and the debts we incur to those who make our lives easier, Someone Always Nearby is based on research into a massive collection of over 700 letters, documents, media reports, and historical accounts. Listeners will be fascinated by this intimate, revealing portrait of the artist's daily life during her first decade at her New Mexico ranch—a mysterious, enigmatic O'Keeffe that only one woman ever fully knew.

A bonus guide is available as a free printable pdf at SusanAlbert.com/Someone-Always-Nearby. It includes the story behind the story: research, sources, hyperlinked resources, curated extras, author commentary, questions, and discussion topics.

©2023 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Informative

I really enjoyed everything about this book. The narration was easy to listen to, although the narrator did botch up quite a few Spanish words, and when that happens for me, it’s disconcerting, but it did not take away from the overall enjoyment of the book. Her voice was soothing to listen to, so I pardoned her inaccurate pronunciations. As for the content of the book, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and literally planned another trip to Santa Fe/Albuquerque as I was reading. I grew up with a love for Georgia O’Keefe, because my grandmother was a prolific artist. I then became an art teacher in Montessori schools, and I always taught O’Keefe to them. My favorite children’s book about her is called George’s Bones. I hadn’t realized how hard Georgia was on the people that she loved, and that loved her. Somehow they were all willing to take whatever she dished out just to be in the company of the great artist. This book has sparked me to want to read George’s biography and glean more information from different sources rather than just her assistant Maria. Each of us has a narrative of our own story, and thus portrays facts and events in our own eyes. I will be interested in some contrast and comparison with other books. Again, it was overall a really good and informative read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A new Perspective

I am quite familiar with New Mexico in the time of Georgia O’Keefe and found this a very interesting tying together events, people and geography. Sometimes hard to follow the narrative timeline and thought didn’t I hear this before but not too bad. A very interesting personal approach. If you haven’t been to Abiquiu you really must now. Requires reservations so do some planning.

Great story and beautiful

This is a wonderful review of a woman Maria, who gets only half a page and Wikipedia write up on her. This is wonderful to see someone get there just you thank you for the author for making this happen. I really enjoyed this book.