Notes from an Exhibition

Patrick Gale

Sep 2008 · HarperCollins UK

About this ebook

From the author of A Perfectly Good Man, the bestselling story of an artist tormented by depression and the toll of creativity.

When troubled artist Rachel Kelly dies she leaves behind an extraordinary body of work – but for her family there is a legacy of secrets and painful revelations.

Rachel exerts a power that outlives her. To her children she is both curse and blessing, as they cope with the inheritance of her passions – and demons. Only their father's gift of stillness can withstand Rachel’s destructive influence and the suspicion that they all came a poor second to her art.

Piecing together the clues of her life – as artist, lover, mother, wife and patient – takes the reader from Cornwall to Canada across a span of forty years. What emerges is a tender story of enduring love, and a portrait of a family coping with the sometimes too dazzling brilliance of a genius.

Ratings and reviews

Each character is more than a few pages in a book. All of them have their own part to play in the story of a family and their relationship with their artist mother - a woman suffering from chronic depression and bipolar. The story spans their lives and weaves them together to give a full picture. A very good and unexpected read.

Captivating

About the author

Patrick Gale was born in 1962 on the Isle of Wight. He was educated at Winchester and Oxford and now writes full time.