A lyrical tale of family secrets and self-discovery. Denis knows his mother kept things from him. His godmother, Clemence, knows the truth. In rich, sensuous prose, Roberts interweaves Denis's search for answers with Clemence's memories of the time she spent working for Matisse.
A lyrical tale of family secrets and self-discovery. Denis knows his mother kept things from him. His godmother, Clemence, knows the truth. In rich, sensuous prose, Roberts interweaves Denis's search for answers with Clemence's memories of the time she spent working for Matisse.
'A wonderful writer: one in possession of immense feeling'
-- Rachel Cooke * The Observer *'Roberts writes with wit and honesty.'
* The Independent *'A magnificent writer.'
-- Helen Dunmore * The Guardian *
'Brimming with delights, as full of life and colour as Matisse's cut outs. Beautifully written with many sharp and original ideas about life and loss and creativity. A novel of deep pleasures.'
-- Susie Boyt'Lyrical, atmospheric, wonderful. This novel has all the romance of the most delicious hot French summer. No-one writes quite like Michele Roberts.'
-- Viv Groskop'One of Britain's best novelists.'
* Independent on Sunday *The story is alive with vivid women.
-- Christian House * Financial Times *Impressive.
* The Sunday Times *This lyrical tale of family secrets and self-discovery is heavenly.
* Woman's Weekly *Roberts tells her tale carefully, in small brightly coloured segments that can't help but recall the style of Matisse's famous cut-out artworks, and with an eye for domestic detail so sumptuous you can almost feel the linen and smell the sage leaves.
-- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *A subtle and delicate new work of fiction imagining the unsung lives of women in the orbit of Henri Matisse.
-- Anthony Cummins * Mail on Sunday *A sumptuously written and life-affirming examination of what it is to be an artist, a woman, a feminist...
* Literary Review *It's a book to be read slowly, taking time to pause, remember, picture and dream.
-- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *A tender exploration of friendship and love in its many forms.
-- Lucy Popescu * The Tablet *Beautifully written
* Woman *Michele Roberts is the author of fourteen critically acclaimed novels, including Daughters of the House, which won the WHSmith Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her memoir Paper Houses was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. She has also published poetry and short stories, and her most recent memoir, Negative Capability, was published to critical acclaim in 2020. Half-English and half-French, Michele Roberts lives in London. She is Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.