The Joyce Girl

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Description

Paris, 1928. Avant-garde Paris is buzzing with the latest ideas in art, music and literature from artists such as Ford Madox Ford and Zelda Fitzgerald. Lucia, the talented and ambitious daughter of controversial genius James Joyce, is making her name as a dancer. But when Lucia falls passionately in love with budding writer (and fellow Irish expat) Samuel Beckett he is banned from the Joyce family home. 1934. Her life in tatters, Lucia is sent to pioneering psychoanalyst Carl Jung. For years she has kept quiet. Now she decides to speak. Profoundly moving and stunningly written, The Joyce Girl brings to light the untold tale of Lucia Joyce. It will entrance and educate you. You will fall in love with this compelling woman, but she will break your heart too.

Reviews

A hugely impressive debut. Annabel Abbs has brought to life an extraordinary cast of characters - Joyce, Beckett et al. - and painted their rackety, bohemian world in vivid technicolour - The Observer This intimate and absolutely splendid novel must top my recommendations as the best 20th-century fiction of the year - Historical Novel Society Avant-garde Paris in the 1920s bursts onto the page in this gripping fictionalisation of an extraordinary life - Who Weekly Funny, clever, tragic, poignant - Australian Women's Weekly An absorbing read about the perils of genius. You'll like this book if you enjoy thoughtful historical fiction that transports you to another time and place - NZ Women's Weekly Here is Lucia Joyce, vibrant, passionate and alive, telling her own story ... Annabel Abbs has crafted a moving tale of thwarted ambition and personal tragedy - Mary Talbot, Costa Biography Award winner Annabel Abbs has found a gripping and little-known story at the heart of one of the twentieth century's most astonishing creative moments, researched it deeply and brought the extraordinary Joyce family and their circle in 1920s Paris to richly imagined life. - Emma Darwin, SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of THE MATHEMATICS OF LOVE

Author Bio

Annabel Abbs lives in London with her husband and four children. The Joyce Girl is her first novel. It won the Impress Prize for new Writers, was longlisted for the Bath Novel Award and the Caledonia Novel Award.