Matthew Plampin is not one of the best-known authors of historical novels. He is not even the best-known writer in this review. But his work possesses a depth and vitality that other, more widely lauded fiction cannot match....At the same time Plampin also lavishes his authorial attention on Maud, the muse Whistler takes too much for granted, and her own ambitions. They are only the most vividly engaging characters in a novel that conjures up the Victorian art world in rich colours.
