Cressida Connolly – författare

Like the better-known Mitfords, the Garman sisters took center stage in Bohemian London during the first half of the twentieth century. Beautiful, flamboyant, and headstrong, they broke away from middle-class conventions, seducing and inspiring a generation of artists. Kathleen, an enigmatic artist''s model and aspiring pianist, was the lover and, later, wife of controversial American-born sculptor Jacob Epstein. Mary married the maverick poet Roy Campbell, whose verse attack on the Bloomsbury group following Mary''s affair with Vita Sackville-West was the literary scandal of the epoch. Lorna, the youngest and most beautiful of the sisters, was the lover of both the painter Lucian Freud and the poet Laurie Lee.

The Rare and the Beautiful offers the first portrait of a beguiling band of eccentric siblings who possessed an uncanny ability to turn heads, break hearts, and spark creative genius. Set against the exciting backdrop of London''s decadent subculture, it evokes their extraordinary milieu of high culture, drama, and scandal.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of After the Party by Cressida Connolly, read by Kristin Atherton.''I always wanted to be friends with both my sisters. Perhaps that was the source, really, of all the troubles of my life...''It is the summer of 1938 and Phyllis Forrester has returned to England after years abroad. Moving into her sister''s grand country house, she soon finds herself entangled in a new world of idealistic beliefs and seemingly innocent friendships. Fevered talk of another war infiltrates their small, privileged circle, giving way to a thrilling solution: a great and charismatic leader, who will restore England to its former glory. At a party hosted by her new friends, Phyllis lets down her guard for a single moment, with devastating consequences. Years later, Phyllis, alone and embittered, recounts the dramatic events which led to her imprisonment and changed the course of her life forever.''Wonderfully subtle and compelling'' Linda Grant''Uncanny, evocative, atmospheric'' Sunday Times''Connolly is a terrifically subtle writer... [she] slyly sweeps her readers into the period drama as tensions tauten between families and social classes'' Daily Telegraph ''Wonderful, tragicomic... beautifully researched'' The Times

Brought to you by Penguin.A TALE OF A TRAGEDY SEEPING THROUGH GENERATIONS, AND A FAMILY FRACTURED BY HISTORY AND DESIRE - available for pre-order now''A writer who seems able to peer directly into the human heart'' John PrestonOn the battlefields of the Crimea, William Gale cradles the still-warm body of his brother. William''s experience of war will bring about a change in him that will reverberate through his family over the next two centuries.In the 1970s, William''s descendants invite Stephen, a distant relation, to stay in their house in the English countryside - but their golden summer entanglements will end in a shocking fall from grace.Half a century later, a confrontation between the surviving members of the family will culminate in a terrible reckoning.Praise for AFTER THE PARTY:''Uncanny, evocative, atmospheric'' Sunday Times''Connolly is a terrifically subtle writer... [she] slyly sweeps her readers into the period drama as tensions tauten between families and social classes'' Daily Telegraph''Profound and moving and completely original, with a storyline that is completely satisfying. It''ll be one of those novels that stays in my mind forever... it''s a work of art'' Craig Brown''I finished it in two days flat and I''ve never read anything quite like it'' Hilary Spurling''Wonderfully subtle and interesting... with a compelling voice'' Linda Grant © Cressida Connolly 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022