In 1882, there was an artistic explosion of creativity in Europe. To a poor girl, Maria, and her alcoholic, prostitute mother, Sien, in The Hague, Netherlands, that didn't mean much until one winter evening when her mother brought Vincent Van Gogh to their home. Before his stint in Paris with the bohemian painters of his day, Van Gogh tried for a family life while learning the trade of art. Seminary school was a failure, and his cousin Klee had rejected his romantic advances. He took solace with this poor girl named Maria and her mother Sien, determined to make them all a family. Maria, a hardened, honest girl, becomes Vincent's secret art critic. With an emotional artist for a friend and an alcoholic woman for a mother, Maria burdens herself as the responsible person in the family and tries desperately to keep them together. The short year and a half with Vincent forever changes Maria. Michelle Rene was born and partially raised in Abilene, Texas, a small town about three hours west of Dallas. She moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area with her mother when she was eight years old. Moving to Dallas, with its many museums and libraries, began her early love affair with the written word, art, and art history. After spending a year at the University of North Texas, Michelle moved to Sarasota, Florida to attend the Ringling College of Art and Design. In 2004, she graduated from Ringling with a BFA in Illustration and moved back to Texas. Michelle has been working in the art industry for over a decade in various capacities, both commercial and otherwise. She has been writing novels as Michelle Rene and Olivia Rivard for almost as long. Throughout her career, art and writing have been the keys to her passion and sanity. She and her husband currently live in Dallas and recently welcomed their first son on October 3, 2013.