Some have dismissed Martin’s story as a camp legend with sexual undertones. But in 1840, the tale of Molly Pitcher received a boost from a powerful source — George Washington’s grandson. The final – and longest – section, set in 1983, is largely a story of strained family relationships. It was my least favourite part of the book not because it’s not well written but because it seemed the most tangential to the story of fate of the painting. I suspect it may be of most interest to those who, like me, have read the author’s earlier book, Eureka, because it features a key character from that book, actress Billie Cantrip. In fact, this section felt rather like a follow-up to Eureka. What Billie did next, if you like. The final reveal of the solution to the mystery of the painting Molly & the Captain didn’t come as much of a revelation to me nor, I suspect, to other observant readers. However it did neatly bring the story full circle providing links between characters separated by centuries. This is essentially a book in three sections with the sections Bering linked in place and sometimes person but taking place at different times In modern-day North London, artist Nell is preparing for an exhibition, a retrospective of her work which should bring long-overdue recognition. Her actress daughter Billie meets a young musician who she is to work with in a film. Horrified by the squat where Robbie lives, Billie suggests her mother take him into her house to replace the lodgers currently moving out of her loft. The consequences impact on all their lives. Margaret "Molly" Brown, circa 1900. / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division [reproduction number LC-DIG-ggbain-07754] // Public Domain

Currier & Ives/Library of Congress In the 19th century, a Currier and Ives series celebrated “The women of ’76.” Molly Pitcher earned the title “heroine of Monmouth.” A century later, in Kentish Town, a painter and her grown-up daughters receive news of an ancestor linking them to the long-vanished double portrait of "Molly &the Captain". Meanwhile friendship with a young musician stirs unexpected passions and threatens to tear the family apart. The action moves to the 19th century. Here, the pace is slower, but no less compelling. It follows a young not terribly successful painter, Paul, living with his sister Maggie a teacher, in Kentish Town. Friendships bloom, and he paints delightful scenes in Kensington Gardens – evocatively described. Paul, however, keeps seeing the ghostly figures in white of a mother and her two daughters. And wherever he goes, including Hastings, the figures appear and haunt his days and nights. Maggie meanwhile is beguiled by a painting she has seen in an auction, ‘School of Merrymount.’ Quinn is skilful with tension, fine historic detail, and the emotional conflict of his characters. Paul on Beachy Head: ‘below the sea glistened, immense, indifferent. It would be quite something to paint at this height.’ After a brief courtship, the pair were married on September 1, 1886. It was ultimately a love match for her. “I wanted a rich man, but I loved Jim Brown,” she said of her husband. “I thought about how I wanted comfort for my father and how I had determined to stay single until a man presented himself who could give to the tired old man the things I longed for him. Jim was as poor as we were, and had no better chance in life. I struggled hard with myself in those days. I loved Jim, but he was poor. Finally, I decided that I'd be better off with a poor man whom I loved than with a wealthy one whose money had attracted me. So I married Jim Brown.” 4. The Browns were “new money.” In 1886 at the age of 18, Margaret moved to Leadville, Colorado, and began working at a local department store. It was in Leadville, circa spring 1886, that she met James Joseph “J.J.” Brown, a local mining foreman.In addition to her political and philanthropic work, Brown studied at the Carnegie Institute in 1901, throwing herself into language and literature. She also studied acting in Paris and New York.

My favourite part was the second one, with its evocation of a 19th century artistic milieu and a delightful love story. The third part, set in 1983, fell a little flat for me. Robbie simply wasn’t a credible character and Billie really grated on me — entirely self-centred, and remarkably immature for a 38-year-old. The plot twists didn’t work for me and as for the ending, can I just say that the contraceptive pill was widely available in 1983. Curtis wrote that “Captain Molly”, seeing her husband fall, “threw down the pail of water, and crying to her dead consort, ‘lie there my darling while I avenge ye,’ grasped the ramrod” to fire the cannon. Mary Ludwig Hays was born in 1754 to German immigrants. She grew up in a modest household in either New Jersey or Pennsylvania and married a barber named William Hays in her early 20s. Yet despite their newfound wealth and the opportunities it afforded them, the marriage between Margaret and J.J. was fraught with disagreements. In 1898, J.J. suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed for a time; while he recovered, his health was never entirely the same and years later, a friend of Margaret’s claimed he experienced “peculiar delusions” and was “constantly pulling the family hearse as chief mourner.”The ending has a wonderful, but gentle, twist. A thoughtful read and one I expect to gain more from on re-reading. The first section largely is written in the form of diary writings .I park liked the way that archaic language was used subtly here,this added to the authenticity of these sections .The story is slow moving particularly in the middle section . Three timelines, three studies of artist families. ‘Molly & the Captain’ by Anthony Quinn is the story of one painting via three families across three centuries. It starts in Georgian Bath with the artist William Merrymount and his two daughters. His portrait of the two girls, ‘Molly & the Captain,’ intrigues through the centuries and ends up in North London in the current time. Left to support herself alone, Corbin struggled financially. After she recovered, Corbin joined the Invalid Regiment at West Point, where she aided the wounded until she was formerly discharged in 1783. Then, on July 6, 1779, the Continental Congress, in recognition of her brave service, awarded her with a lifelong pension equivalent to half that of male combatants. Congress also gave her a suit of clothes to replace the ones ruined during the conflict. While Brown didn’t see the Titanic sink—she claimed that Lifeboat No. 6 was at least a mile and a half away by the time it did—she noted that a “great sweep of water” went over the boat, and at that time, the other passengers on her lifeboat all knew “the steamer was gone.”