It’s 1759. In Ipswich sisters Peggy and Molly Gainsborough are the best of friends and do everything together.
They spy on their father as he paints, they rankle their mother as she manages the books, they tear barefoot through the muddy fields that surround their home.
But there is another reason they are inseparable: from a young age, Molly has had a tendency to forget who she is, to fall into confusion, and Peggy knows instinctively that no one must find out.
When the family moves to Bath, Thomas Gainsborough finds fame as a portrait artist, while his daughters are thrown into the whirl of polite society.
Here, the merits of marriage and codes of behaviour are crystal clear, and secrets much harder to keep.
As Peggy goes to greater lengths to protect her sister, she finds herself falling in love, and their precarious situation is soon thrown catastrophically off-course.
The discovery of a betrayal forces her to question all she has done for Molly — and whether any one person can truly change the fate of another
The Painter’s Daughters by Emily Howes is published in paperback on 6 February, 2025.
Emily’s novel was shortlisted for the 2024 HWA Debut Crown Award, among many other acclamations.
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