Excerpt from Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

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VINCENT AND THEO VAN GOGH look a lot alike: They both have red hair, though Vincent's is redder, Theo's more reddish blond. Vincent has freckles; Theo does not. They are both medium height—around five feet seven—but Vincent is broader, bigger; Theo slighter, thinner. They have pale blue eyes that sometimes darken to greenish blue. They are definitely brothers.

But they couldn't give more different impressions.

Vincent in his workman's clothes spends his days painting, outside if it's not too cold, or inside the apartment. He is covered with Parisian soot and grime, overlaid with splatters and spatters of paint: ochre, brick red, orange, lemon chrome, cobalt blue, green, black, zinc white.

He doesn't bathe often, which is typical for a nineteenth-century man, but it's even less often than he should. He stinks—of body odor, dirt, food, paint, turpentine, wine, and tobacco. He usually has a pipe in his mouth, though he has very few teeth left, and those that are left are rotten.

And yet Vincent looks healthy: he's robust, sturdy, and vehemently alive. Passion pours from him, as if the world he's trying to capture is inside him, bursting to come out.

Theo is tidy, well dressed in a suit, looking very much the proper Parisian businessman. His features are finer, more refined. He would be handsome if he weren't so sick: he's thin and pale; he looks as though the life is being sucked out of him. He feels that way, too.

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IN MANY WAYS, Vincent's move to Paris has been good for both brothers. Thanks to Theo's influence, to the artists he's met, and to his own tenacious work, Vincent's paintings are better than ever: they are imbued with color and light and Vincent's own particular style.

And Vincent has given Theo more of a life. He'd been lonely in Paris, so lonely, and now, even though he doesn't have a wife and family, Theo at least has a circle of friends through Vincent. For that he is grateful. So even though he's desperate, Theo doesn't kick out his brother. Yet.

In April, Theo acknowledges to another sister, Lies, that he's been ill, "particularly in my spirit, and have had a great struggle with myself." If he were well, he could deal with Vincent.

In fact both brothers do better with sun and warm air and hours spent outside. The Parisian days are getting longer—by minutes, anyway. If only spring would arrive! But there's still too much gloom outside and in.

Gloom and fire.

It's as if there are two Vincents, Theo has told Wil. He knows both sides of his brother very well. Sometimes Vincent is ebulliently happy and kind, sometimes furiously angry and difficult. He has a huge heart, but he's stubborn and argumentative.

Vincent argues not only with Theo, and with himself, but also with friends and people he admires. One cold and fiery night in the near future, Vincent will fight with another roommate. And that argument will end in blood.

Excerpted from Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman. Copyright © 2017 by Deborah Heiligman. Excerpted by permission of Henry Holt and Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.