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Molly & the Captain
- Narrated by: Helen Stern
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
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Molly & the Captain
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Summary
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.
Critic reviews
'Every sentence he produces is a joy' Metro
'Opens up timeless themes of family, success and love' New Statesman
'Quinn is an intelligent analyst of the uncertainties of love and art' Sunday Times
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What listeners say about Molly & the Captain
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rachel Redford
- 13-02-24
packed full of good things
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.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- cyberdonkey
- 21-05-23
A thought provoking listen
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."
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Abigail W.
- 29-10-22
Another Masterpiece
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.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- K. A. Mosedale
- 02-01-23
A Beautiful story
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.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- debbieg
- 03-01-24
Like 3 books in one - a good read
Such different reads all held together by central theme of family secrets over the centuries. Very much set in the three eras with the constructions of the time for unmarried women of a certain age. Enjoyable and different.
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