Review - The Master of Bruges by Terence Morgan

The Master of Bruges is the story of Hans Memling, a fifteenth century portrait painter whose voice is masterfully brought to life in this debut novel.

In his newly-inherited position as portrait painter to the nobility at home and abroad Memling is privy to the lives of the rich and the powerful. He is also able to observe the political and personal machinations that motivate them. The story moves Memling from Bruges to England and includes insights into Memling's role in the War of the Roses and the mystery of the Princes in the Tower.

Talking of a portrait of the Madonna, Memling says the "red rose she wears at her breast is painted from a compound of alum and powdered wood, lye and urine. If you could smell it, the odour would be the stale of horses." He tells us that in the world of painting, "all is artifice", nothing is as it seems. And so it is too with the life and loves of Memling. He has his own dark secrets, and they are not just the secrets of the mixing of paint.

This is refreshingly unlike any other historical novel I have read. It has the scholarship of non-fiction combined with a character that will hold your interest as he tells his true story.

At the heart of this book is the loving recreation in words of Hans Memling's art. In one respect I found it frustrating not to have the illustrations there in front of me, but in another it allowed Morgan to do his job and create them through the writing - a job he does remarkably well. Morgan sticks rigorously to the known facts of Memling's life whilst introducing a plausible sub-text of Memling's own fascinating opinions of those he paints.

This book will delight anyone who paints, anyone who likes fifteenth century history, or indeed anyone who likes a period skilfully brought to life.

The Gilded Lily to be published by Pan Macmillan

I am delighted to announce that my second novel, The Gilded Lily will be published by Pan Macmillan, date of publication to be confirmed soon.

The Gilded Lily is a companion volume to The Lady's Slipper, but can also be read as a stand-alone novel.


The Gilded Lily

a Winter of Snow and Ice 1661

Timid Sadie Appleby has always lived in her small village. One night she is rudely awoken by her older and bolder sister, Ella, who has robbed her employer and is on the run. The girls flee their rural home of Westmorland to head for London, hoping to lose themselves in the teeming city. But the dead man's relatives are in hot pursuit, and soon a game of cat and mouse begins.


Ella is soon obsessed with the glitter and glamour of city life and sets her sights on flamboyant man-about-town, Jay Whitgift. But nothing is what it seems - not even Jay Whitgift.


Can Sadie survive a fugitive's life in the big city? But even more
pressing, can she survive life with her older sister Ella?

Set in London's atmospheric coffee houses, the rich mansions of
Whitehall, and the pawnshops, slums and rookeries hidden from rich men's view, The Gilded Lily is about beauty and desire, about the stories we tell ourselves, and about how sisterhood can be both a burden and a saving grace.

At the same time as I was celebrating my own good news I heard that Terence Morgan, a fellow Macmillan New Writer and author of historical fiction, has signed a similar two book deal with Pan Mac. Check out his recent book, The Master of Bruges. His new one will be entitled "The Last Plantagenet."