Keeping the World Away

Lost, found, stolen, strayed, sold, fought over... This engrossing, beautifully crafted novel follows the fictional adventures, over a hundred years, of an early 20th-century painting and the women whose lives it touches. It opens with bold, passionate Gwen, struggling to be an artist, leaving for Paris where she becomes Rodin's lover and paints a small, intimate picture of a quiet corner of her attic room... Then there's Charlotte, a dreamy intellectual Edwardian girl, and Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa and finally young Gillian, who share an unspoken desire to have for themselves a tranquil golden place like that in the painting. Quintessential Forster, this is a novel about women's lives, about what it means and what it costs to be both a woman and an artist, and an unusual, compelling look at a beautiful painting and its imagined afterlife. "This novel follows the fictional adventures, over a hundred years, of an early 20th century painting and the women whose lives it touches. It opens with bold, passionate Gwen, born in the nineteenth century, coming of age in the twentieth, struggling to be an artist, going to Paris where she becomes Rodin's lover and paints a small, intimate picture of a quiet corner of her attic room... Then, there's Charlotte, a dreamy intellectual Edwardian girl, with artistic leanings, but less talent; and Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa, and Gillian, who share an unspoken desire to 'keep the world away', to have for themselves a tranquil golden place like that in the painting. Lost, found, stolen, strayed, sold, almost destroyed, fought over, and finally bequeathed, the picture makes its way from Paris to Hampstead, popping up on a London market stall after the Great War, finding its way to the Cornish coast, then back to London after the Second World War, eventually taking a brief trip to Scotland and returning at last to Paris at the turn of the twenty-first century."--Publisher's description This novel follows the fictional adventures, over a hundred years, of an early twentieth-century painting and the women whose lives it touches. First there's bold, passionate Gwen, coming of age in the twentieth century, struggling to be an artist and leaving for Paris, where she becomes Rodin's lover and paints a small, intimate picture of a quiet corner of her attic room. Then there's Charlotte, a dreamy intellectual Edwardian girl with artistic leanings but less talent; and Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa and finally young Gillian, who all share an unspoken desire to have for themselves a tranquil golden place like that in the painting Gwen is struggling to be an artist, leaving for Paris where she becomes Rodin's lover and paints a small picture of a quiet corner of her attic room... Then there's Charlotte, an intellectual Edwardian girl, and Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa and a young Gillian, who share an unspoken desire to have for themselves a golden place like that in the painting. Talks about the fictional adventures of an early 20th-century painting and the women whose lives it touches. This novel opens with bold, passionate Gwen, struggling to be an artist, leaving for Paris where she becomes Rodin's lover and paints a small, intimate picture of a quiet corner of her attic room. A classic Margaret Forster novel with the same satisfying appeal as her bestselling Diary of an Ordinary Woman the story of an actual early 20th century painting and its fictional adventures through the century and of the women whose lives it touches. From the Hardcover edition. An intimate painting of a quiet corner of an attic room, created by Gwen, Rodin's lover, has a profound influence on several women whose lives it touches, including Gwen and Charlotte, a dreamy Edwardian intellectual