Madame Matisse

Sophie Haydock delivers another sizzling story of the art world, where sidelined women take centre stage. It’s an immersive tale of muses, betrayal, sex and bad behaviour * Daily Mail *
Deliciously immersive … Think of [Haydock] as the art world’s slightly spikier answer to Philippa Gregory … I took Madame Matisse on a wet, grey holiday and it swept me into a world of startling, splashy colour. * The Spectator *
Enchanting, evocative… Sophie Haydock gets under the skin of three complex women in this absorbing read * Woman & Home *
A stunning act of literary, historical and artistic reimagining, woven with incredible skill – and so beautifully written. It will stay with me for a long while * Donal Ryan *
Madame Matisse is everything I want in a book: an evocative and thoughtful work, packed full of insights into the tumultuous world of the 1930s French art movement. Most crucially of all, it places the fascinating women who helped shape one of history’s most loved artists front and centre. * Harriet Constable, author of top ten bestseller, The Instrumentalist *
Gorgeously evocative, ambitious in its scope, Madame Matisse sweeps through many of the major events of the twentieth century, whilst remaining laudably faithful to the true coordinates of people, places, artworks and events. A nuanced and humane portrait of three very different women who helped the artist achieve greatness. * Lucy Caldwell, author of These Days *
Madame Matisse is a fascinating portrait of three extraordinary women whose lives were shaped by the conflicts, hardships and upheavals of early twentieth century Europe. Each of these distinctly different women are linked by the man they all loved, Henry Matisse. While he created a new aesthetic, they each carved their own rules, flying in the face of society’s restrictive expectations. Sophie Haydock, in her restrained and precise style, has written a worthy follow up to The Flames. * Elizabeth Fremantle, author of Queen’s Gambit *
Haydock brings to life Europe at the turn of the 20th century seen through the eyes of Madame Matisse. Taking us on a journey starting at the painter’s uninspired beginnings to his soaring success and international acclaim. Following her hit novel, The Flames, Haydock brings us her gripping tale of obsession and sacrifice and firmly establishes herself as a novelist of great power and skill. * Paul McVeigh, author of The Good Son *
Rich, based-on-real-life storytelling * Sainsbury’s Magazine *
Haydock turns her penetrating gaze on three formidable women in Henri Matisse’s life … A work of vivid imagination, colour and verve * SAGA Magazine *

Sophie Haydock is an author, editor and journalist (Sunday Times, Financial Times, Guardian), based in Folkestone, Kent, where she is curator of Folkestone Book Festival. Her debut, The Flames - about the women who posed for the scandalous artist Egon Schiele in Vienna a century ago - was named by the Times as one of the Best Historical Fiction Books of 2022. It was longlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award, and the Italian translation, Le Fiamme, won the Premio Letterario Edoardo Kihlgren for debut novels. She worked for the Sunday Times Short Story Award and is associate director of the Word Factory. Her Instagram @egonschieleswomen has 110,000 followers.

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