Friday’s Girl – Charlotte Bingham

Description

Friday’s Girl by Charlotte Bingham is a captivating tale of love, beauty, and the complex relationships between two women in the early 20th century. The novel begins with the encounter between Napier Todd, a famous portrait artist, and Edith Hanson, a humble maid who is scrubbing floors. Mesmerised by her beauty, Napier marries Edith within weeks and brings her to his grand country home, much to the envy of the other maids. However, their marriage soon becomes troubled, and Edith falls ill, prompting the couple to retreat to the picturesque Cornish village of Newbourne for her convalescence.

In Newbourne, Edith meets Celandine Benyon, a struggling artist who moved to Paris to find inspiration. There, she fell in love with and eloped to marry fellow painter Sheridan Montague Robertson. The couple eventually settled in Newbourne, where Celandine tries to help Edith with her troubled marriage. While her advice appears to work wonders at first, it soon leads to tragic consequences, testing both women’s relationships. Meanwhile, the dangerously attractive Alfred Talisman lurks in the background, threatening to complicate their already fragile happiness.

Friday’s Girl is a richly woven narrative of personal and artistic struggles, offering a compelling exploration of friendship, love, and sacrifice. Fans of historical fiction and character-driven stories will find themselves drawn into the lives of Edith and Celandine as they navigate the complexities of love and loss.