HIP BOOK REVIEW: Molly and the Captain
By Anthony Quinn
Abacus books £16.99
REVIEW BY VIOLA VON HARRACH
In his ninth novel, Anthony Quinn takes inspiration from the portraits painted by Thomas Gainsborough. The title, Molly and the Captain, is that of a painting by the celebrated fictitious Georgian artist, William Merrymount of his two daughters. This is an elegant, finely tuned story, telling the life and fate of the painting. It is also about the different ways of love and loss and their repercussions. Ultimately, it explores the importance of family traits and how they can resonate through the centuries. The book is divided into three sections 18th, 19th and 20th century stories, each interlinked in Quinn’s inimitable style.
Laura, the captain of the title, and also an artist, tells the first part through twenty years of her diary entries. Here is Georgian life in claustrophobic detail. Quinn manages to get in those intimate and sometimes private moments that make characters what they are. Merrymount, the artist, is an overbearing father who jealously guards his success and position in society. He is also an unfaithful husband. This results in a love child, a subplot which is perhaps not as fully drawn as it might be.
His daughter, the emotionally unstable Molly, makes an unfortunate marriage. His other daughter, Laura, craves his acknowledgment of her talent as an artist. A compliment he never gives. After his death she paints her pièce de résistance of a newly discovered step-brother. In the background is her father’s celebrated painting, Molly and the Captain, which has by then mysteriously disappeared.
WHEREVER HE GOES, INCLUDING HASTINGS, THEY HAUNT HIS DAYS AND NIGHTS
The action moves to the 19th century. Here, the pace is slower, but no less compelling. It follows a young not terribly successful painter, Paul, living with his sister Maggie a teacher, in Kentish Town. Friendships bloom, and he paints delightful scenes in Kensington Gardens – evocatively described. Paul, however, keeps seeing the ghostly figures in white of a mother and her two daughters. And wherever he goes, including Hastings, the figures appear and haunt his days and nights. Maggie meanwhile is beguiled by a painting she has seen in an auction, ‘School of Merrymount.’ Quinn is skilful with tension, fine historic detail, and the emotional conflict of his characters. Paul on Beachy Head: ‘below the sea glistened, immense, indifferent. It would be quite something to paint at this height.’
In the 20th century, and with a writer’s sleight of hand, Quinn cleverly re- introduces the youthful film star, Billie Cantrip. She was one of the characters of an earlier novel, Eureka. Here, she comes across as self-centred and manipulative. Then there is her sister ,Tash, who has an outlandish taste in clothes and is politically active. Nell, their mother, is a well-known artist. A television documentary on her is just about to be aired and she has a retrospective exhibition at a well-known gallery. Passionate, single, middle-aged – small wonder that she has an affair. And the painting? Quinn is uncompromising with his plot. There are hints along the way but with typical aplomb he keeps us guessing to the end. This is a captivating and superbly crafted novel.
Why not reserve a copy at your local Hastings or Bexhill library? Or buy a copy online, through The Hive, and support the local bookshop?
Anthony Quinn is the author of nine novels and one work of non-fiction. His novel Curtain Call is soon to be released as a feature film starring Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton.
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