An Equal Stillness: Winner of the Orange Award for New Writers 2009

by Francesca Kay (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2009

  $3.25

  Jennet Mallow is born in Yorkshire in the 1920s but her interest in art and creativity alienates her from her family, her father who is a priest, her conventional sister and her emotionally stunted mother. Jennet moves to London in search of a more exciting life and finds it in her new environment and in the handsome and enigmatic figure of the painter David Heaton. When Jennet falls pregnant, her parents more or less force the two to marry. In the postwar austerity of the 1940s, the young couple struggles to make ends meet and Jennet finds that her home life is gradually eroding everything she has fought to achieve. Aware that David is becoming increasingly reliant on drink and tired of the dank and drab bedsit in which they live, Jennet suggests they move to Spain. There, the bright blue skies, warm air and sunlit beaches give the couple and their children a new lease of life. Jennet begins to paint again and an agent takes an interest in her work. But as Jennet's own career begins to take off, her relationship with David sours and the two enter a destructive spiral with tragic consequences.

  Written in the form of a biography, An Equal Stillness is an outstanding debut, breathtaking in the poise and beauty of its language and craft.

• Used

  paperback
  

  $3.25

  Winner of the Orange Award for New Writers 2009
  
  Artist, lover, wife, mother: can one woman be them all?

  Born in 1924, Jennet Mallow grew up with a disillusioned mother and a father haunted by memories of war. But Jennet has a talent - and a passion - for art. When she meets the handsome painter David Heaton they begin a tempestuous affair which takes them from the dank terraces of London to a bohemian artistic community in St Ives. But as Jennet's career flourishes, her relationship with David suffers - with potentially tragic consequences . . .
  
  'The most beautiful, accomplished debut I have read for a long time . . . It is a powerful novel by a supremely talented artist' OBSERVER
  
  'Enchanting . . . exquisitely written' DAILY EXPRESS
  
  'A masterful portrait of a woman forging an unexpectedly dazzling career against the backdrop of familial duty' EASY LIVING

• New

  paperback
  

  $11.51

  Winner of the Orange Award for New Writers 2009
  
  Artist, lover, wife, mother: can one woman be them all?

  Born in 1924, Jennet Mallow grew up with a disillusioned mother and a father haunted by memories of war. But Jennet has a talent - and a passion - for art. When she meets the handsome painter David Heaton they begin a tempestuous affair which takes them from the dank terraces of London to a bohemian artistic community in St Ives. But as Jennet's career flourishes, her relationship with David suffers - with potentially tragic consequences . . .
  
  'The most beautiful, accomplished debut I have read for a long time . . . It is a powerful novel by a supremely talented artist' OBSERVER
  
  'Enchanting . . . exquisitely written' DAILY EXPRESS
  
  'A masterful portrait of a woman forging an unexpectedly dazzling career against the backdrop of familial duty' EASY LIVING