{"title":"Books by Martina Devlin","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781843519041","title":"Charlotte","description":"Charlotte Brontë dazzled the world with some of literature’s most vital, richly-drawn characters. She spent her brief but extraordinary life in search of love – and eventually found it with Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father’s curate, a reserved yet passionate Irishman. The pair honeymooned in Ireland, though their joy was quenched nine months later when Charlotte died in March 1855. The aura of mystery surrounding the enigmatic author was only to intensify after her death.   Charlotte is the story of two marriages and three lives irrevocably intertwined, told by the woman who went on to wed Brontë’s widower. Theirs was a love triangle of devotion and heartache, friendship and deception, passion and obsession.   Martina Devlin’s enthralling novel re-envisions Charlotte’s pivotal time in Ireland, weaving back and forth through the novelist’s life and afterlife. It reflects upon the myths built up by those who knew her, those who thought they did, and those who longed to.    ‘I was utterly enthralled by this fictional rendering of Charlotte Brontë's life—and its aftermath—as viewed through the eyes of her husband's second wife. This is a powerful and compelling novel that expertly imagines the lives and times of those closest to Brontë, and captivates the reader with its cleverness and eloquence.’ Mary Costello ‘In Charlotte, the raw gold of Charlotte Brontë’s marriage to Arthur Nicholls has been wrought in a wonderful artefact; this is a beautiful novel full of mystery, intrigue and story.’ Carlo Gébler","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308019659125,"sku":"9781843519041","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781843519041_25f86af3-1c95-4752-8134-bdde0c61cf5d.jpg?v=1786028093"},{"product_id":"9781843518303","title":"Edith","description":"Martina Devlin, an award-winning columnist for the Irish Independent and podcaster for Dublin City of Literature #CityofBooks, has delivered a new novel based on the life of Edith Somerville of ‘Somerville and Ross’ fame – authors of The Irish R.M.   In this work, set during the turbulent period of Irish Independence 1921–22, Somerville finds herself at a crossroads. Her position as a member of the Ascendancy is perilous as she struggles to keep her family home, Drishane House in West Cork, while others are burned out. After years in a successful writing partnership with Violet Martin, Edith continues to write after her partner’s death, comforted in the belief they continue to connect through automatic writing and séances.   Against a backdrop of Civil War politics and lawlessness erupting across the country via IRA flying columns, people across Ireland are forced to consider where their loyalties lie.   In Edith, Devlin limns a vivid historical context in this story of proto-feminist Edith Somerville courageously trying to keep home and heart in one piece.   The story of Somerville and Ross is unique in the history of Irish women writers. Academic Shawn R. Mooney described these best-selling authors as ‘undeniably New Women: single, educated and economically independent writers whose lives and literary collaboration were unique manifestations of late-nineteenth century feminist strivings toward political and sexual equality’. Devlin depicts Edith in the round, suffering from loss, striving for safety, and keeping hold of hope in this captivating narrative set in the early years of a nascent state — a triumph of ventriloquism rooted in a society on the cusp of change.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308288881013,"sku":"9781843518303","price":14.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781843518303_f9037b55-849b-4574-aa10-280682c576ac.jpg?v=1786028073"},{"product_id":"9781843519324","title":"Charlotte","description":"Charlotte Brontë dazzled the world with some of literature’s most vital, richly-drawn characters. She spent her brief but extraordinary life in search of love – and eventually found it with Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father’s curate, a reserved yet passionate Irishman. The pair honeymooned in Ireland, though their joy was quenched nine months later when Charlotte died in March 1855. The aura of mystery surrounding the enigmatic author was only to intensify after her death.   Charlotte is the story of two marriages and three lives irrevocably intertwined, told by the woman who went on to wed Brontë’s widower. Theirs was a love triangle of devotion and heartache, friendship and deception, passion and obsession.   Martina Devlin’s enthralling novel re-envisions Charlotte’s pivotal time in Ireland, weaving back and forth through the novelist’s life and afterlife. It reflects upon the myths built up by those who knew her, those who thought they did, and those who longed to.    ‘I was utterly enthralled by this fictional rendering of Charlotte Brontë's life—and its aftermath—as viewed through the eyes of her husband's second wife. This is a powerful and compelling novel that expertly imagines the lives and times of those closest to Brontë, and captivates the reader with its cleverness and eloquence.’ Mary Costello ‘In Charlotte, the raw gold of Charlotte Brontë’s marriage to Arthur Nicholls has been wrought in a wonderful artefact; this is a beautiful novel full of mystery, intrigue and story.’ Carlo Gébler","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56420083794293,"sku":"9781843519324","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781843519324_db4f0cf2-f423-4d63-847b-22f6afc4e93f.jpg?v=1786028103"},{"product_id":"the-house-where-it-happened","title":"The House Where it Happened","description":null,"brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57507805430133,"sku":"9781781999301","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781781999301.jpg?v=1787042945"},{"product_id":"glorious-monsters","title":"Glorious Monsters","description":"‘There’s more than one kind of beauty, just as there’s more than one kind of love.’ He pauses. ‘And in this community we’re building, we know that love divided is not love lessened.’Rome, 1819. Into the sun-drenched streets of the Eternal City arrive the Shelleys: dazzling, volatile and dangerously entangled. Irish artist Amelia Curran encounters Mary Shelley, her mercurial husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont – and is drawn into a world shimmering with genius. But shadows lie behind the glamour. And Amelia becomes reluctant witness to the trio’s rivalries, griefs and secrets, which sharpen in the heat of an Italian summer.   Haunted by the portrait of executed noblewoman Beatrice Cenci, Amelia confronts the limits of art, loyalty and female agency. Meanwhile, the Shelleys’ lives unravel as illicit desires flare, past tragedies resurface and a child’s life hangs in the balance. Layered, intimate and steeped in historical context, Glorious Monsters is a spellbinding reimagining of the Romantic circle – where brilliance and ruin are inextricably linked.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57507898753397,"sku":"9781807620110","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781807620110.jpg?v=1788187060"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-martina-devlin.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}