After Nora

Penelope Curtis author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Les Fugitives

Published:15th Apr '24

Should be back in stock very soon

After Nora cover

In early 1920s England, Nora's life is in a state of flux: leaving one husband for another, she embarks on a new existence on the margins of the cultural and political elite, trying to hold onto her aspirations as a painter, along with her marriage. In late 1960s Glasgow, young biologist Maria de Sousa wrestles with her feelings for an older colleague, Adam Curtis, the author's father. The unclear connection between the two impels the author, fifty years later, to seek out answers in Lisbon: what really happened between Adam and Maria? After Nora bridges three generations spanning a century, and moves between London, Paris, southern England, Scotland, Jamaica and Portugal, touching on key scientific discoveries, artistic and historical landmarks, the Carnation Revolution and a global pandemic. Penelope Curtis offers sensitive portraits of those whose lives she has had to imagine in order to understand, in an ambitious debut that movingly resurrects a past whose remnants still permeate the present.

'Penelope Curtis's After Nora is a fascinating European novel in the best sense. Spanning three generations and countries, it is a rich, tantalising portrait of beautiful minds in love and in the thick of creation.' - Xiaolu Guo, author of Radical; 'A thoroughly absorbing read, After Nora evokes a vivid sense of place, seamlessly combining autobiography and history.’ - Daria Santini, author of The Exiles: Actors, Artists and Writers Who Fled the Nazis for London; ‘I found After Nora increasingly moving as it went along and I loved the various musings on the purpose and meaning of/in art as Nora tries to understand the value of the paintings she’s producing.’ - David Thorp, artist and curator

ISBN: 9781739778347

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

205 pages