We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.
THE NUMBER ONE KINDLE BESTSELLER
SELECTED FOR THE BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB
WINNER OF THE MSLEXIA NOVEL COMPETITION
‘Beautifully written . . . I raced through it’ HILARY MANTEL
‘As exquisitely and tenderly rendered as a Gainsborough painting’ TRACY CHEVALIER
‘A wonderfully powerful and haunting novel with a hugely gripping plot’ DEBORAH MOGGACH
‘A rich evocation of secrets, art, sisterhood and class’ i PAPER
1759, Ipswich. Sisters Peggy and Molly Gainsborough are the best of friends and do everything together. They spy on their father as he paints, they rankle their mother as she manages the books, they tear barefoot through the muddy fields that surround their home. But there is another reason they are inseparable: from a young age, Molly has had a tendency to forget who she is, to fall into confusion, and Peggy knows instinctively that no one must find out.
When the family move to Bath, Thomas Gainsborough finds fame as a portrait artist, while his daughters are thrown into the whirl of polite society. Here, the merits of marriage and codes of behaviour are crystal clear, and secrets much harder to keep. As Peggy goes to greater lengths to protect her sister, she finds herself falling in love, and their precarious situation is soon thrown catastrophically off-course. The discovery of a betrayal forces her to question all she has done for Molly – and whether any one person can truly change the fate of another . . .
Inspired by true events and told with irresistible vibrancy and wit, Emily Howes’ award-winning debut is a captivating and deeply moving novel about art, sisterhood and the price we pay for love.
‘Vividly imagined and exquisitely brought to the page’ RACHEL JOYCE
‘A beautiful debut’ JO BROWNING WROE
‘An incredible first novel that’ll leave you scouring the real-life paintings for clues’ STYLIST
‘Fascinating’ WASHINGTON POST
SELECTED FOR THE BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB
WINNER OF THE MSLEXIA NOVEL COMPETITION
‘Beautifully written . . . I raced through it’ HILARY MANTEL
‘As exquisitely and tenderly rendered as a Gainsborough painting’ TRACY CHEVALIER
‘A wonderfully powerful and haunting novel with a hugely gripping plot’ DEBORAH MOGGACH
‘A rich evocation of secrets, art, sisterhood and class’ i PAPER
1759, Ipswich. Sisters Peggy and Molly Gainsborough are the best of friends and do everything together. They spy on their father as he paints, they rankle their mother as she manages the books, they tear barefoot through the muddy fields that surround their home. But there is another reason they are inseparable: from a young age, Molly has had a tendency to forget who she is, to fall into confusion, and Peggy knows instinctively that no one must find out.
When the family move to Bath, Thomas Gainsborough finds fame as a portrait artist, while his daughters are thrown into the whirl of polite society. Here, the merits of marriage and codes of behaviour are crystal clear, and secrets much harder to keep. As Peggy goes to greater lengths to protect her sister, she finds herself falling in love, and their precarious situation is soon thrown catastrophically off-course. The discovery of a betrayal forces her to question all she has done for Molly – and whether any one person can truly change the fate of another . . .
Inspired by true events and told with irresistible vibrancy and wit, Emily Howes’ award-winning debut is a captivating and deeply moving novel about art, sisterhood and the price we pay for love.
‘Vividly imagined and exquisitely brought to the page’ RACHEL JOYCE
‘A beautiful debut’ JO BROWNING WROE
‘An incredible first novel that’ll leave you scouring the real-life paintings for clues’ STYLIST
‘Fascinating’ WASHINGTON POST
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
A sad and insightful reimagining of the lives of Gainsborough's daughters
This richly detailed historical novel from an exciting debut writer beautifully tells the story of the daughters of society painter Thomas Gainsborough
A delicately painted story of the two Gainsborough sisters, their lives as intricately entwined as a silken spiderweb. I adored it
Sibling bonds, arts and artifice, mental illness and marriage twine together in a story that was inspired by Gainsborough's portrait of his daughters, Peggy and Molly. Plunged into Bath polite society, their closeness is thrown into confusion as Peggy falls in love and Molly's illness threatens incarceration in an asylum
A sad, insightful, illuminating read
An illuminating read and an important look at views on mental health in the 18th century
A rich evocation of secrets, art, sisterhood and class
A deeply touching tale of two sisters that probes the difference between love and self-sacrifice. Fascinating
I loved this debut. An exquisite, absorbing story of sisterly love, buried secrets and the bids we make to live freely. The lives of the Gainsborough sisters, in Emily Howes's beautiful prose, captivated me
You may never view a Gainsborough in quite the same way again after reading Howes's debut novel, which creates a web of secrets and scandals out of the painter's home life . . . riveting
Inspired by the daughters of artist Thomas Gainsborough, this historical fiction debut is perfect for fans of Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet
A thoughtful and thought-provoking debut novel that brings to life the daughters of painter Thomas Gainsborough. Emily Howes is a talented writer who vividly evokes Regency England but doesn't shy away from exploring how its glittering society could constrain and threaten young women. An engaging and enjoyable mix of historical fact and beautifully-imagined fiction
A feast for the senses and the joy of a story well told - a beautiful debut
A moving exploration of the familial ties that bind us and the grief of a life half-lived . . . a wonderful debut that lingered with me
My favourite kind of storytelling: vividly imagined and exquisitely brought to the page. I loved The Painter's Daughters for its freshness, its tenderness and its robust humour. It beautifully captures a child coming to terms with the adult world and the extraordinary bond that can exist between sisters. I adored it, and know it will stay with me for a very long time
Drawn with writerly flair
It's beautifully written and I raced through it. Research is filtered through contemporary consciousness and deployed with skill. It's a polished performance
A historical novel that weaves fact and fiction into a haunting novel of love, madness and family secrets . . . an incredible first novel that'll leave you scouring the real-life paintings for clues
Beautifully written, moving and skilfully handled, The Painter's Daughters is as exquisitely and tenderly rendered as a Gainsborough painting
A brilliant novel . . . the writing is sublime. It is like being transported back in time. I didn't want the story to end. If you enjoyed Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet, you'll love this
A wonderfully powerful and haunting novel about sisterly love, art and betrayal, with a hugely gripping plot. I absolutely loved it
In the tradition of Maggie O'Farrell and Tracy Chevalier, Emily Howes brings us the story of Thomas Gainsborough's two daughters, Molly and Margaret, whom she imagines were equal parts muse and millstone for the famed eighteenth-century portrait painter. Howes' thorough research and exquisite prose brings both girls to life, but it is the author's deep understanding of mental illness and how it affects families that sets the novel apart. Emily Howes is a true talent, and I did not want this book to end
A satisfying tale of the complicated, and poignant, ties that bind
A mesmerising and at times quietly devastating tale of two sisters, art, shared suffering and love. With The Painter's Daughters, Emily Howes has pulled off the finest of balancing acts, combining rich and evocative historical detail with a light and contemporary writerly touch
A fantastic debut . . . The Painter's Daughters is a beautiful, heartbreaking, stunningly perceptive read about love and art, hope and expectation. And so gripping too - I devoured it
Howes writes so knowledgeably on everything from Georgian pigments to the tensions of sisterly love . . . the novel shines when it comes to the spooky duality of portraits, of sisterhood, of private and public faces . . . convincing, engaging, transporting.
Fascinating
A beautiful, moving and full-blooded novel that explores powerful questions about madness, art and love and brings unseen lives to the fore . . . I loved seeing the Gainsborough girls brought out of the canvas and into the messy real world, and the portrait of the artist himself in all his loving, faithless complexity
A marvellous novel, up there with some of my favourite works of historical fiction. Emily Howes' evocation of the Gainsborough sisters' relationship is truly remarkable and the novel is a sensory delight, full of evocative descriptions that bring the past to life. I loved it
Beautifully written, confidently told and vivid in every detail, The Painter's Daughters was both a pleasure to read and broke my heart
A beautifully written, impressively researched novel about sisterly love, art and sacrifice, The Painter's Daughters is historical fiction at its finest. Both entertaining and enlightening, it swept me along in its galloping pace while teaching me about a world I never knew. Howes is a talent to be reckoned with. Wonderful
I loved The Painter's Daughters - a vivid, sad, beautiful novel about sisters