Molly & the Captain

'A gripping mystery... Sweeping across centuries in its three interlinked sections, Molly & the Captain summons the past effortlessly' ObserverA 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. In the summer of 1889, a young painter glimpses a mother at play with her two daughters in Kensington Gardens and decides to include them in his picture. 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. 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. With period subtlety, intricate characterisation and storytelling verve, Anthony Quinn melds three families and three centuries into a single vision of human frailty and longing. 'A witty and affecting saga... It delights in exploring tiny, unexpected quirks of character and broad brushstrokes of greater emotion alike, and never fails to entertain' Spectator