The Painter's Daughters

A Novel

By: Emily Howes

Narrated by: Gemma Lawrence, Louise Brealey

A “beautifully written” (Hilary Mantel), “fascinating” (The Washington Post) story of love, madness, sisterly devotion, and control, about the two beloved daughters of renowned 1700s English painter Thomas Gainsborough, who struggle to live up to the perfect image the world so admired in their portraits.

Peggy and Molly Gainsborough—the daughters of one of England’s most famous portrait artists of the 1700s and the frequent subject of his work—are best friends. They spy on their father as he paints, rankle their mother as she manages the household, and run barefoot through the muddy fields that surround their home. But there is another reason they are inseparable: from a young age, Molly periodically experiences bouts of mental confusion, even forgetting who she is, and Peggy instinctively knows she must help cover up her sister’s condition.

When the family moves to Bath, it’s not so easy to hide Molly’s slip-ups. There, the sisters are thrown into the whirlwind of polite society, where the codes of behavior are crystal clear. Molly dreams of a normal life but slides deeper and more publicly into her delusions. Peggy knows the shadow of an asylum looms for women like Molly, and she goes to greater lengths to protect her sister’s secret.

But when Peggy unexpectedly falls in love with her father’s friend, the charming composer Johann Fischer, the sisters’ precarious situation is thrown catastrophically off course. Her burgeoning love for Johann sparks the bitterest of betrayals, forcing Peggy to question all she has done for Molly, and whether any one person can truly change the fate of another.

A tense and tender examination of the blurred lines between protection and control, The Painter’s Daughter is an “engaging, transporting” (The Guardian) look at the real girls behind the canvas. Emily Howes’s debut is a stunning exploration of devotion, control, and individuality; it is a love song to sisterhood, to the many hues of life, and to being looked at but never really seen.

©2024 Emily Howes (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Fascinating account of Gainsborough’s life and times

I loved the story of how the one sister protected the other one. Also, an account how women were sometimes the stronger ones although they had a lesser place in society.

Won’t want to stop listening!

A totally engaging story that is expertly woven together from beginning to end. The two actors are fantastic as well.

How much is true?

I found the story of the lives of the Gainsborough family very interesting. Looked up the paintings and enjoyed them. Particularly like the paintings of Molly and Margaret.

So long for very little story

This book was way too long and the story uninteresting. Peggy’s constant fear of her sister’s condition, her sacrifices and their parents denial, all that could have been told in an hour instead of twelve. Even the love story between Peggy and Fisher was just barely there, they had almost no interactions, plus almost zero interactions for Molly and all of the sudden she was getting married to him. The most interesting parts were the story of Meg, their grandmother when she was young, which revealed their royal ancestry. But those parts were way shorter compared to Peggy’s and Molly’s parts. I had high hopes for this book, but it disappointed me, so I cannot recommend. The narrators were great but there was only so much they could do with the story.

Boredom

This book was vapid, flat, and uninteresting…the narrator didn’t have much to work with but the monotone could put paint to sleep.