In One Madder Woman, Dede Crane vividly recreates the life of Berthe Morisot, the sole female member of the renowned group of artists known as the Impressionists. Inspired by true events, One Madder Woman charts her complicated relationship with her sister and rival, Edma, and her tumultuous love affair with Édouard Manet, the charismatic enfant terrible of the Paris Salon, against a backdrop of upheaval and war in mid-19th-century Paris.

One Madder Woman illuminates the stories behind familiar masterpieces, and sketches a life teeming with obstacles defied and conquered by the genius of Morisot. At a time when art was a space completely dominated by men, Morisot upends all expectations of what a “proper woman” should be and manages to carve out her own place in the art world. Crane’s rich prose and lyrical expression bring this revolutionary artistic period to life, in vivid and glorious colour.

Dede Crane is the author of the literary novel Sympathy, which was a finalist for the Victoria Butler Book Prize. She has also published the teen novel, The 25 Pains of Kennedy Baines. Her first published story, “Seers,” appeared in Grain magazine and was short listed for the CBC Literary Award; she has since been published in numerous literary journals. Dede has also co-edited, with author Lisa Moore, a collection of non-fiction stories about the experience of giving birth. She is currently working on a second teen novel, Poster Boy. A former professional ballet dancer and choreographer, Dede Crane has studied Buddhist psychology and psychokinetics at Naropa Institute in Colorado and the Body-Mind Institute in Amherst, Massachusetts. She currently calls Victoria, B.C. home.

Dede Crane's profile page

"What an enchanting world! Trailblazing artists, smouldering sensuality, and the rare mind of a visual artist who changed the way we see. Every time I left the book, I rushed to return, to be beguiled again by Crane’s deft and painterly vision, and her penetrating exploration of a woman genius at work in a field utterly dominated by men."

Shaena Lambert

"Dede Crane has created a stunning literary portrait of Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot as a groundbreaking artist, feminist and woman-in-love. Crane’s luminous prose lets us feel colours just as Morisot did. I was so invested in the story of this tumultuous and beautiful life that I kept reading one more chapter, then another and another, late into the night."

Joan MacLeod