I was drawn to this book because of the cover. I learned so much about the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Although the pacing was slow, the book held my interest and now when I look at paintings, I see so much more.

I’m a bit conflicted about this book, as I found the style overblown and very romanticised, with a tendency towards melodrama rather than drama. I was also a bit concerned about the facts – although I could see that the author had done a lot of research. Did, for example, Rossetti actually exhibit at the Royal Academy? Did he harangue his fellow artists about his views on art in that way? And yet I soon found myself caught up in the tragic love affair between Lizzie Siddall and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and I enjoyed meeting the others from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. So I decided to put aside my pernickety nature, to not fact-check, and just go along for the ride. For it’s a truly fascinating story – a group of young idealistic artists, their womenfolk, John Ruskin stepping in like a deus ex machina at times, heartbreak, romance, London society, the great and the good (and not so good). Rita Cameron has combined all these elements into a satisfying fictionalised biography of Lizzie Siddall, and if sometime the emphasis was on the fiction rather than the biography (there was a lot of dialogue which had to have been invented, and much speculation about what Lizzie and Rossetti were actually feeling) overall I found it convincing, enjoyable and a compelling read.

Rating: 3 stars
This debut historical fiction novel by Rita Cameron tells the tale of the romance between Gabriel Dante Rossetti and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Siddall. (Note, Rossetti usually spelled Lizzie’s last name as ‘Siddal’ on his artwork, but her proper last name was Siddall.) Lizzie had started to garner attention when she began working as an artist’s model in 1849. She was twenty at the time, and was working part-time in a milliner’s shop to help supplement her earnings as a model. Rossetti wasn’t the first artist to use her, but once he discovered her he soon became obsessed with her.

By 1851, he put a stop to her working with any other Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists, and required that she only pose for him. He reportedly made thousands of paintings of her over the course of their life together. They married in 1860. Theirs was a tumultuous relationship as Lizzie worked hard to become an artist (painting and poetry) in her own right she never achieved the acclaim that Rossetti did.

Cameron tells a good tale, and sets the scene for the era and the mores of the time really well. This was a well-written book that I enjoyed and would recommend to other readers looking to learn more about rarely told period in art history.

Thank-you to NetGalley; Kensington Publishing; and the author, Rita Cameron; for providing a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.