This major new novel by the best-selling Maggie Humm is the story of artist Gwen John’s tumultuous affair with the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The novel is largely set in London and Paris between 1897 and 1917, and focusses on pivotal moments which transform Gwen’s life. / As a Slade student in London in 1897, she mixes in an artistic coterie, drinking together in Fitzrovia, dining at the Café Royal, and learning from all the famous artists of the time, which sustains and encourages Gwen in her chosen career. / Living in Paris in 1904-1917 she moves in the exciting Parisian art world and its cafes, studios, and complex heterosexual and Sapphic relationships. Gwen enjoys her life as an independent woman living alone, with her painting supported by modelling for income. One day, while modelling, Gwen meets Rodin. Having once glimpsed him, to her excitement, in the British Museum, she is delighted to be invited to model for Rodin and they begin a sexual relationship. Their affair, despite his other lovers, is passionate and for Gwen life changing. The ups and downs of their relationship produce scenes of tense confrontation and equally intense love.