The Quiet Wife
Frances Leyland is used to having her opinions ignored or derided by her overbearing, nouveau riche husband Frederick. But even she is shocked when he announces he has bought a new London house without consulting her and engaged American artist James Whistler to paint his portrait – and possibly hers too. When he arrives at Speke Hall, their country residence near Liverpool, Frances discovers Whistler is unlike anyone she has ever met, and she finds herself blossoming under his attention. But with four teenage children to protect and Frederick’s moods increasingly darkening as a business deal reaches a critical stage, Frances must tread carefully to prevent violence from erupting.
This novel is inspired by real events and speculation based on their letters that Whistler and Frances were more than just friends. On the whole, the book zips along very readably, with only a slight tendency for repetition. For instance, there are two near-identical scenes in which Whistler explains to Frances how he wants her to pose for her portrait – and she’s equally surprised on both occasions.
The characters of Frances and Jemie (as he is known to close friends) are well developed, though minor characters are virtually interchangeable, and Frederick isn’t granted a single redeeming feature. Oddly, Whistler’s mother (yes, that one) does at one point suggest Frederick’s aggression is a self-defence mechanism – but this isn’t pursued, and a few pages later, she has joined in the general chorus warning Frances against antagonising him because he’s dangerous.
There is a tendency to use the wrong spellings of homophones (taut/taught, complimentary/complementary and especially discreet/discrete), but otherwise the research seems sound, and generally it’s a pleasant read that has encouraged me to find out more about Whistler and his work.
