The Rare and the Beautiful

The Lives of the Garmans

Cressida Connolly

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Paperback

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English

Harper Collins
04 November 2005

Biography; Biography: general; Family history, tracing ancestors

The compelling biography of the beautiful, talented Garman sisters and the glittering, romantic era in which they lived.

Each of the seven Garman sisters were strikingly beautiful, artistic and wild. Born around the turn of the nineteenth century, most of the siblings were to become involved in the radical literary and political circles of British life between the First and Second World Wars. Their morals were unconventional: bisexuality, unfaithfulness and illegitimate children were a matter of course. Nevertheless they were high-minded and intensely loyal.

They were the last muses: women who were prepared to sideline their own talent, friendships, material comforts – even their own children – in order to beguile and inspire the men they loved.

Cressida Connolly's family biography delves into the lives of three of the sisters in intense and revealing detail.

Kathleen Garman, the father's favourite, ran away to London to study music. She was spotted by the American sculptor Jacob Epstein, who promptly fell in love with her, and remained his muse until his death. They had three children, she was shot in the shoulder by his first wife and she finally became Lady Epstein in 1955.

Mary Garman came to London with Kathleen and studied art at the Slade. She married poet Roy Campbell, who was to become the scourge of the literary establishment by espousing General Franco's side during the Spanish Civil War.

Finally there was Lorna Garman, the youngest and most beautiful of all the family. At sixteen she married the wealthy Ernest Wishart, a landowner, communist and founder of the socialist publishing house Laurence & Wishart, who spent most of his life turning a blind eye to his wife's infidelities. Lorna was the love of Laurie Lee's life and they had a daughter. Lucian Freud painted several pictures for her.

Through Cressida Connolly’s skilfull retelling of these remarkable lives, we get an intimate portrait of a golden age of romance, passion and art that is an original, beguiling read.

By: Cressida Connolly
Imprint: Harper Collins
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 220g
ISBN: 9781841156347
ISBN 10: 1841156345
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 04 November 2005
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Cressida Connolly was born in 1960. She is a journalist and reviewer. Her collection of stories, The Happiest Days, won the PEN/MacMillan Prize. She has three children and lives on a farm in Worcestershire.

Reviews for The Rare and the Beautiful: The Lives of the Garmans

'Paints some wonderfully vivid pictures of how difficult the Garmans must have been to live with.' Sunday Telegraph 'Connolly writes with great elegance and perception about this ruthlessly sensual family.' Literary Review 'A rollicking mix of the familiar and surprising.' Sunday Times 'A sobering coda and an often hilarious tale.' Independent Praise for THE HAPPIEST DAYS: 'Read it, and arrange for someone to scrape you off the floor.' Time Out 'Cressida Connolly has an exact, quizzical eye, a generous imagination, and the power to draw readers into the strangeness of being a stolen child, a lion tamer, a woman waiting to be tattooed.' Helen Dunmore 'That rare and wonderful hybrid, tales which are both utterly unexpected and beautifully written ! I'd recommend them to anyone.' Daily Mail