LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Through the lives of two extraordinary women, and an engaging first-person narrative, Heather Cooper’s Arresting Beauty reveals how some boundaries of class and gender could not be crossed in Victorian England. Inspired by the real-life experiences of celebrated Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and the young girl she took into her Bohemian household, the author handles her subjects with deft diligence and warmth.
As a ten-year-old, Mary was plucked “from the gutters of Putney and installed in a real house, a grand one” by Julia Margaret Cameron, an esteemed photographer. In Mary’s view, “I was a project, an enthusiasm, one among so many.” In Julia’s, “I must have this child! Yes, yes; look at her, those eyes!”
Soon after Mary becomes part of Julia’s bohemian household as a maid, they move to the Isle of Wight, where Julia’s friend Alfred Tennyson, a close neighbour, observes that Mary is an “intelligent girl.” In time, after being educated alongside Julia’s own sons, spirited Mary becomes her mistress’s muse, model and assistant while battling class constraints of the age, and experiencing intense romance.
With a rich cast of characters, top-notch dialogue and vivid sense of its protagonist’s conflicts and desires, Arresting Beauty is a fine example of biographical fiction.
Joanne Owen
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Arresting Beauty Synopsis
‘Beggars can’t be choosers. They really can’t.’
Based on true historic events, Arresting Beauty follows the extraordinary story of Mary Ryan, who was found begging on Putney Heath at the age of ten by the celebrated Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Julia takes Mary into her magnificently bohemian household, to be trained as a maid and educated alongside her own sons, before becoming an assistant, muse and model for Julia in many of her pioneering photographs.
When Julia decides to move to Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, to live close to her great friend Alfred Tennyson, Mary?clever and rebellious?finds herself uncomfortably poised between two worlds?that of a servant girl in one, and in another, artistic assistant to Julia and befriending the likes of Tennyson, battling class and attitudes of the time to fulfil her own goals and perhaps even find love.
A sparkling historic romance novel based on a true-life story.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781913894153 |
| Publication date: |
30th September 2023 |
| Author: |
Heather Cooper |
| Publisher: |
Beachy Books |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
256 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Historical Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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Author
About Heather Cooper
Heather Cooper grew up in a small village in northern Lancashire, and was educated at Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School and the University of Durham. She also studied at the London College of Printing, and subsequently worked at the Westerham Press, Faber & Faber, and Eel Pie Publishing.
In 1981 Heather moved to the Isle of Wight, where her son and daughter were born. While living on the Island she has worked for the National Trust, in local government, and later in the NHS.
Heather’s first novel, Stealing Roses, was published in 2019 by Allison and Busby. Stealing Roses and its sequel, A Shape in the Moonlight, have also been published in Germany by Goldmann. She contributed to A Love Letter to Europe published in 2019 by Coronet.
She now lives in Cowes with her partner.
Photo Credit Copyright © Michael Osborne
More About Heather Cooper
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