A new century is dawning. Vienna in 1912 is at its zenith, an opulent, extravagant city teeming with art, music and radical ideas. It is a place where anything seems possible…
Edith and Adele are sisters, the daughters of a wealthy bourgeois family. They are expected to follow the rules, to marry well, and produce children.
Gertrude is in thrall to her flamboyant older brother. Marked by a traumatic childhood, she envies the freedom he so readily commands.
Vally was born into poverty but is making her way in the world as a model for the eminent artist Gustav Klimt.
Fierce, passionate and determined, none of these women is quite what they seem.
But their lives are set on a collision course when they become entangled with the controversial young artist Egon Schiele whose work — and private life — are sending shockwaves through Viennese society.
All it will take is a single act of betrayal to set their world on fire.
The Flames by Sophie Haydock is published in paperback on 27 April, 2023.
Sophie has written about discovering Adele, who lies in an unmarked grave, and making sure her life, and name, would be recognised, in Honouring Adele, Egon Schiele’s muse.
