Synopses & Reviews
In a daring, beautiful novel set in the turbulent world of Victorian England, a maid, mistress, and master are drawn into a fateful love triangle.
When Annie Phelan arrives at the Dashells' farm to begin work as a maid, she finds her new mistress strapping wings on a naked boy who is to play the Angel of Death. Annie knows one thing for sure-she is not at the prim Mrs.Gilbey's anymore.
England in 1864 is a place of change. This is the age of invention, Crystal Palace, progress, the colonies. At the farm, the master dreams of far-flung exploration, while the mistress, Isabel, struggles with the new technology -- photography -- to produce art. And she struggles as well with her unimaginative help, who cannot play the roles she assigns.
It is Annie, beautiful, suggestible, and sensitive, who proves to be Isabel's inspiration. Through a series of portraits -- Guinevere, Ophelia, Grace, the Madonna -- the mistress transforms the maid into her confidante and muse. To the master, though, Annie becomes "Phelan," a member of his fantasy Arctic expedition. Caught between the two, Annie nearly loses herself, until disaster reveals her power over the Dashells' work and hearts.
Exquisite in its evocations, Afterimage is a boldly transgressive story of class, love, art, and freedom.
Review
"Canadian writer's lyrical, alluring novel, a kind of gloss on the life of the Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron; the character at its heart, however, is a passionately self-educated housemaid from starving Ireland who serves as a model and as the prize in a family tug of war." New York Times, Notable Books 2001
Synopsis
When Annie Phelan arrives at the Dashells' Victorian England farm to work as a maid, she finds the master dreaming of explorations, and the mistress struggling with the new technology of photography for her art. Drawn into a fateful love triangle, Annie nearly loses herself until disaster reveals her power over the Dashells' work and hearts.
Synopsis
Inspired by the life of Julia Margaret Cameron,
Afterimage is the bold and provocative story of Annie Phelan, a maid in the home of Isabel and Eldon Dashell. Isabel is experimenting with the new medium of photography, and is inspired by Annie, who becomes her muse. The two form a close relationship, but when Eldon devises his own plans for the young maid, Annie nearly loses herself, until disaster reveals her power over the Dashells work and hearts.
About the Author
Helen Humphreys is the author of four collections of poetry and a previous novel,
Leaving Earth, which won the Toronto Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book. She lives in Kingston, Ontario.