A celebrated artist of the Georgian era paints his two young daughters at the family home in Bath. The portrait,known as "Molly & the Captain",becomes instantly famous,its fate destined to echo down the centuries,touching many lives.
In the summer of 1889 a young man sits painting a line of elms in Kensington Gardens. One day he glimpses a mother at play with her two daughters and decides to include them in his picture. From that moment he is haunted by dreams that seem to foreshadow his doom.
A century later,in Kentish Town,a painter and her grown-up daughters receive news of an ancestor linking them to the long-vanished double portrait of "Molly &the Captain". Meanwhile friendship with a young musician stirs unexpected passions and threatens to tear the family apart.
Molly & the Captain is a story about time and art and love. Through the prism of a single painting it examines the mysteries of creativity,and the ambiguous nature of success. What weighs more,loyalty to one's talent or loyalty to one's blood Does self-sacrifice ennoble the soul or degrade it And what does it mean to speak of the past when its hold on the present is inescapable
Through Anthony Quinn's signature gifts - period subtlety,intricate characterisation and storytelling verve this triptych novel melds three families and three centuries into a single vision of human frailty and longing.
Publisher: Little,Brown Book GroupISBN: 9780349144290Number of pages: 432Weight: 340 gDimensions: 196 x 126 x 32 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'(A) beguiling new novel about the mysteries of creativity from master storyteller Anthony Quinn... Every sentence he produces is a joy.'- The Metro
'A gripping mystery... Sweeping across centuries in its three interlinked sections,it summons the past effortlessly,as a vehicle for a plot that is both intricate and immaculately constructed... Quinn's most ambitious book to date and decidedly his best.'- Alex Preston,The Observer
'Quinn is an accomplished writer at ease with the idioms of the past... He is also a subtle creator of character... opens up timeless themes of family,success and love.'- Michael Prodger,New Statesman
'Quinn is an intelligent analyst of the uncertainties of love and art.'- The Sunday Times
Anthony Quinn
Known for his immersive and playful historical fiction,British author Anthony Quinn was born in Liverpool and was the film critic for the Independent from 1998 to 2013. His first novel,The Rescue Man,won the 2009 Authors'Club Best First Novel Award and his novel Curtain Call was chosen for the Waterstones Book Club. His other novels are Half of the Human Race,The Streets,Freya, Eureka and Our Friends in Berlin.
Visit the Anthony Quinn author page
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