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Molly & the Captain

'A gripping mystery' Observer

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About this listen

 'An intricate, moving novel... Quinn's best book to date' Observer

'Every sentence he produces is a joy' Metro
'Opens up timeless themes of family, success and love' New Statesman
'Truly magnificent... this is Quinn's masterpiece' The Tablet
'Quinn is an intelligent analyst of the uncertainties of love and art' Sunday Times

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.©2022 Anthony Quinn Fiction Historical Fiction Tear-jerking Dream

Critic reviews

[A] beguiling new novel about the mysteries of creativity from master storyteller Anthony Quinn... Every sentence he produces is a joy
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)
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)
Quinn is an intelligent analyst of the uncertainties of love and art
These women's lives are gently and perceptively explored (Antonia Senior)
Gripping historical fiction
[A] stylish literary triptych... Quinn is a fine writer with an instinctive understanding of the pitfalls of the bohemian life
A deft, century-hopping novel... delight[s] in the granular details of an era, as well as a thorough knowledge of its broad sweep (Imogen Hermes Gowar)
There is a delicious mystery at the heart of this novel
One of my favourite writers... a breathtakingly ambitious novel that nails the small personal triumphs and tragedies of each woman's life (Sarra Manning)
So versatile - Quinn seems to reinvent himself with every book
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 (Alexander Larman)
Quinn displays an impressive range of expression: the mannered, epistolary style of the early chapters gives way to touches of Victorian gothic, and then to crisp contemporary prose (Kimberley Long)
Truly magnificent... each part is separate and distinct, involving and compassionate, yet all are mysteriously connected... Period details sparkle in this elegant prose... This is Quinn's masterpiece (Sue Gaisford)
Quinn's books are unbeatable treats... His latest, a hall of mirrors across three centuries revolving around a single painting, is both about art and irresistibly artful
Poignant, involving, beautiful and thoroughly entertaining... Quinn's best and most ambitious novel yet dances through three centuries, entwines the worlds of theatre and art in a thoroughly seductive embrace, and brings all his considerable gifts into play... This is a novel packed with pleasures (Christobel Kent)
Pleasurable... The novel is a triptych, each part standing alone and quickly establishing its particular note and colour by means of language, carefully chosen detail and a sprinkling of familiar names
Quinn has an artist's eye and can mine drama from even the plainest parlour or afternoon in the park
All stars
Most relevant
I started this just after Christmas worried that I didn't have enough time to get into it during what was left of my holiday. I was gripped from the start and loved the way the story developed across three different periods of history. It was wonderfully narrated and I enjoyed every minute of it.

A Beautiful story

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This is a a story, with painting at its core. Is it one story or three? Quinn expertly mirrors themes and characters across three time zones and multiple English locations. It was particularly resonant for me as I live in London but also lived in Bath which feature prominently. The evocation of the three time periods is as expertly illustrated in words as the fictional paintings are with oils. The first artist William Merrimount, has the feel of being loosely based on Gainsborough, I used to pass the plaque in the circus Bath that marked where he lived. He also had two surviving daughters whose nicknames were Molly & Peggy who he painted more than once, most famously chasing a butterfly. The second painter I the later 1900s is Paul Stansom and the final Nell Cantrip a painter in her 60s in the 1980s who lives in Kentish Town the area where Merrimounts daughters ended up living. Alex Preston's Guardian review sums it up perfectly " Molly & the Captain is Quinn’s most ambitious book to date and decidedly his best, knitting together three quite distinct eras and in doing so alerting us to that which endures: beauty, love and great art."

A thought provoking listen

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A beautifully woven story set across three distinct periods. Anthony Quinn's characters always exceed expectations taking the reader on fascinating adventures. Cannot recommend highly enough to do it justice.

Another Masterpiece

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One of the three absolutely outstanding novels I have read or listened to in the past 12 months.
The other two - Restless by William Boyd and Still Life by Sarah Winman ,
The way in which the author threaded the story together over 200 years and 3 separate storylines was masterly.
This was my first Anthony Quinn novel .
Now onto the “ Freya trilogy “ .

SUPERB

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This is a rewarding, absorbing and intelligent work set t in three distinct historical periods. This is my first Anthony Quinn and I’ll certainly look for his others
Inspired by Gainsborough’s portrait of his daughters, Quinn has at the heart of Molly and the Captain an eighteenth century painting by fictional artist Merrymount .This painting and the portrayal of artistic temperament form in the fabric of each of the three sections which follows , plotting the journey of the painting from 1780-1983.
I liked the early one the best which creates the domestic life of Merrymount and his talented but thwarted artist daughter and her frail sister. It could be a novel on its own.
Quinn’s skill at creating historical period in each section is tremendous and his characters throughout are not just real, but spectacularly so. The narration is also first class – nuanced and sensitive.

packed full of good things

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