To what lengths do women go to protect those whom they love, forego their own pursuit of personal happiness and selflessly serve the family into which they are born? This story focuses on the lives of famous portraitist's Thomas Gainsborough's daughters and the life they shared in the orbit of their much revered and professionally sought father, Thomas Gainsborough.

Ms. Howe has down a spectacular job of filling in the holes of the limited known story of these two women and their years spent together through childhood and into womanhood. The mise en scène is beautifully crafted in its richness and painterly delivery. The prose is exquisitely devised and presents an air of deep thought in how society views the working class among the ton. Such societal constrictors are hardly understood in today's day and age. Yet, Howes does a superb job of delivering the reader into the eighteenth century and holding them there in thrall for the duration of the story.

To the sensitive reader, please note that there are a number of "f-bombs" throughout the story and some graphic detail of sexual relations. Personally I found the coarse language out of character with the rest of the story's prose, which is so beautifully crafted. As for the story itself, it is a sad one, for certain. Yet it may ring true for so many women of today who sacrifice their own lives out of duty and ultimately with much love.

I am grateful to publisher Simon and Schuster for having provided an advance uncorrected reader's proof of this story through NetGalley. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.

Anticipated Publication Date: 02/27/2024
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 978-1668021385
No. of pages: 320 ( )