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Molly & the Captain: 'A gripping mystery' Observer

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Countless more women, whose names we may never know, served at the battlefront as nurses, cooks, laundresses and camp followers. The last group describes women who accompanied the troops and provided domestic (and sometimes sexual) services, in some cases because they were simply too poor to provide for their families with their husbands away fighting. Historian Holly Mayer estimates that perhaps 7,000 women accompanied the American troops during the war. George Washington complained in 1777 that “the multitude of women in particular…are a clog upon every movement.” But he knew that the soldiers would desert without them, and that their labor was necessary. Some of these women later applied for pensions, and more research is needed in the voluminous pension files of the National Archives to flesh out these stories. In modern-day North London, artist Nell is preparing for an exhibition, a retrospective of her work which should bring long-overdue recognition. Her actress daughter Billie meets a young musician who she is to work with in a film. Horrified by the squat where Robbie lives, Billie suggests her mother take him into her house to replace the lodgers currently moving out of her loft. The consequences impact on all their lives.

My favourite part was the second one, with its evocation of a 19th century artistic milieu and a delightful love story. The third part, set in 1983, fell a little flat for me. Robbie simply wasn’t a credible character and Billie really grated on me — entirely self-centred, and remarkably immature for a 38-year-old. The plot twists didn’t work for me and as for the ending, can I just say that the contraceptive pill was widely available in 1983.

So, who was Molly Pitcher? The historian Emily Teipe suggests that, “The name Molly Pitcher is a collective generic term inasmuch as ‘G.I. Joe’ was a moniker for a soldier or soldiers in World War II.” That is, Molly Pitcher wasn’t one single woman, but rather a representation of the women who fought in the American Revolution. After all, thousands of women traveled with the Continental Army. Many, like Mary Ludwig Hays, Magaret Corbin, and Deborah Sampson, saw action. Some have dismissed Martin’s story as a camp legend with sexual undertones. But in 1840, the tale of Molly Pitcher received a boost from a powerful source — George Washington’s grandson. I enjoyed the last section the most the characters here for me were more easy to identify with .I loved the character descriptions here which were well defined and interesting .There was also more of a story line in this section and it moved along faster keeping my attention A gripping mystery… sweeping across centuries in its three interlinked sections, Molly & the Captain summons the past effortlessly’ Observer

National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, Captain Molly Corbin Chapter. “History.” Accessed on October 15, 2014. Soon after marrying, the Browns moved into a two-room cabin in Stumpftown, Colorado, which was closer to the mines where J.J. worked. Margaret began taking reading and literature classes with a tutor, and in August 1887, the couple welcomed their first child, Lawrence (known as Larry). The Molly Brown House in Denver, Colorado. / Onetwo1 at the English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0 Land, Robert H. “Margaret Cochran Corbin” in James, Edward T., Janet Wilson James, Paul S. Boyer, eds. Notable American Women: 1607-1950, A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1971.

In his ninth novel, Anthony Quinn takes inspiration from the portraits painted by Thomas Gainsborough. The title, Molly and the Captain, is that of a painting by the celebrated fictitious Georgian artist, William Merrymount of his two daughters. This is an elegant, finely tuned story, telling the life and fate of the painting. It is also about the different ways of love and loss and their repercussions. Ultimately, it explores the importance of family traits and how they can resonate through the centuries. The book is divided into three sections 18th, 19th and 20th century stories, each interlinked in Quinn’s inimitable style. Firstly the diaries and letter of Laura Merrymount recount events mainly in the 1780s. Whilst Merrymount is imaginary, (inspired by Thomas Gainsborough), the voice of Laura is utterly convincing as she describes her own career as an artist, an unfortunate marital rivalry with Molly and then a period of caring for her, as spinsters together in Kentish Town. The style is impeccably 18th century epistolary.

This delight in the granular details of an era, as well as a thorough knowledge of its broad sweep, extends into the rest of the novel. The second part, set in raffish 1880s Chelsea, is note-perfect in its portrayal of a young artist, Paul Stransom, and his sister Maggie, who abandoned her own dreams to care for their dying mother. These cash-strapped bohemians are fans of Whistler, and although they count Rossetti and Carlyle among their neighbours, the only one to seize their attention is an unnamed green carnation-wearing resident of Tite Street (a conspiratorial wink to the reader here). In a twist of irony, Reginald VelJohnson had previously played Carl Winslow, a cop on another Chicago-set series, Family Matters.The hardships of Corbin’s young life inspired the courage and resilience that would serve her well during the Revolution. Born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania on November 12, 1751, she was orphaned at age five, when her father was killed during an Indian raid and her mother was taken captive, never to return. She and her brother were adopted and raised by an uncle. The ending has a wonderful, but gentle, twist. A thoughtful read and one I expect to gain more from on re-reading. Roberts, Cokie. Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2004. Mary Ludwig Hays was born in 1754 to German immigrants. She grew up in a modest household in either New Jersey or Pennsylvania and married a barber named William Hays in her early 20s. Hichens was reluctant to return to search for survivors, although there was plenty of room on the boat. “He told us we had no chance,” she recalled to the Times. “After he had explained that we had no food, no water, and no compass[,] I told him to be still or he would go overboard.”

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