Product Description

Beautifully evocative and suspensful double time-scheme narrative about Rembrandt, love and art. In January, 1662, the artist Rembrandt, bankrupted in the great tulip crash, accidentally stows away on a boat for Hull. To pay for his passage, he must paint the Captain's portrait. For himself, he paints a portrait of the Captain's beautiful wife. Rembrandt has seduced many a sitter before, and sets about doing so again. But he has a rival -- none other than the MP for Hull after the Civil War, the poet Andrew Marvell! And the Captain's wife is far from being a passive player in this triangular game of love, deceit and manipulation. All this is discovered in the present day by another painter, Amy, who has returned to her old family home as a restorer. As she paints a portrait of the man she is becoming involved with, so she uncovers the secrets of the past. This fine novel will appeal to fans of Girl with a Pearl Earring and Tulip Fever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #329112 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
Praise for Silence and Shadows: 'In Silence and Shadows, James Long has invented a brand new genre ... the archaeological thriller' Tony Parsons 'one of the most unexpected and evocative thrillers in years' Daily Mail

In this debut novel Will Davenport explores a fictional episode in the life of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn - probably the greatest portrait painter of all time. In reality, little is known about Rembrandt's life save the bare biographical details, but Davenport crafts a tale in which the Dutchman comes by chance to Hull in spring 1662. Having just been declared bankrupt, Rembrandt accidentally stows away on a ship bound for England. He is forced to pay for his passage by painting a portrait of the captain. But the captain's wife, Amelia Dahl, holds far more interest for the Dutch painter and soon he is engaged in a contest to win her affections with none other than the poet and then MP for Hull, Andrew Marvell. Interwoven with this fictional history, chapter for chapter, is the present-day story of one of Amelia Dahl's descendants - Amy Dale. She too is an artist, finding herself by coincidence restoring the Dahl's ancestral home in Hull. As Amy becomes more and more involved with the subject of her own painting, a brooding and mysterious man, she unravels the secret truth behind her ancestor's involvement with Rembrandt and Marvell. The novel starts slowly but the second half is utterly gripping. Davenport has a good feel for plotting, and his adroit shifting between time periods makes it easy for us to suspend our disbelief at the numerous coincidences. The characters are less successful - Amy does not always ring true, and Rembrandt and Marvell both come across as odious. Still, there are some fine ideas - about art and its power, self-delusion, the relationship between painter and painted and what art represents - and this is undoubtedly a promising first novel. (Kirkus UK)

Rembrandt in England, locked in a fierce struggle with the poet Andrew Marvell for artistic preeminence-and the attentions of a beautiful woman: all in this outing from Davenport (a.k.a. British thriller writer James Long: Silence and Shadows, 2001, etc.). It's 1662, and the 56-year-old Rembrandt is bankrupt. Fleeing his creditors, the notorious homebody becomes an accidental stowaway on a ship bound for Hull (the evidence for Rembrandt's residence in England is flimsy, but Davenport, otherwise, stays close to the historical record). Ship's captain Dahl promises to pay Rembrandt's passage home if he likes the portrait he has commissioned. Dahl's intermediary is another passenger, the Dutch-speaking Marvell, at first glance a self-important parliamentarian. Painting the captain is a tedious chore; painting his wife, the beautiful Amelia, the challenge of a lifetime. And Marvell gives Rembrandt the opportunity. Working in different mediums, each man will pay tribute to Amelia's beauty, and the subject herself will decide the winner. This may all sound rather loopy, and the identification of Amelia as the Coy Mistress of Marvell's most famous poem may be several degrees too cute, but it works surprisingly well on the page. Davenport finds a convincing voice for Rembrandt, and the artistic rivalry becomes all the juicier thanks to the serenely manipulative Amelia. What works far less well is a storyline set in 2001 that gets equal time. Here, hot-blooded young artist Amy Dale, a descendant of Dahl's, joins a crew that's restoring the grand country house once built by Amelia. Amy seduces her scarred but sexy co-worker Don, who may or may not be bad news. The two stumble on Rembrandt's wall paintings, but their subsequent sleuthing never blends with a surrounding melodrama that churns out two murders and one near-miss (all, curiously, involving a chain saw). Although the contemporary story becomes an annoying distraction, Davenport does right by Rembrandt and his genius-and that gives his fantasy a glow of its own. (Kirkus Reviews)

From the Publisher
First rate Historical novel which will appeal to fans of Girl with a Pearl Earring and Tulip Fever.

About the Author
Will Davenport is a former television and radio journalist.

Customer Reviews

Worth waiting for...
I'd been waiting for this novel for a while and then, once I had it, I waited for a good time to read it relatively undisturbed, and this happened yesterday on a long train journey to London and back.

It was worth the wait.

A combination of historical drama, thriller and even something to attract the 'chick lit' fans, this book seems to have it all.

The author has conducted thorough and impressive research; none of the seventeenth century fiction sounds implausible and wherever possible it is merged seamlessly with reality. The detail is intriguing (I loved the trips to seek out the artist's materials, which could so easily, in a lesser novel, have been skimmed over).

Amy, the 21st century artist is compellingly likeable, sexual and interesting and the cast of supporting characters fit well around her. The portrait (in words) of Rembrandt is so real that you feel you know him. I am prompted to look again at his work.

I wanted to see a bit more of Marvell.. he is a little bit sidelined in the story, but then the novel is called 'The Painter' and not 'The Poet', so that is fair!

Will Davenport is clearly adept at placing real, living, breathing characters in a shifting, landscape and timeline. Times, costumes, customs and buildings change... people are people whenever they happen to be born.

A highly recommended read.

Unfortunately fiction!
One wants this story to be true as the characters come to life!
Easy read but excellently told:
switching between Rembrandt's era and modern day Britain made me impatient and crave to read on.
The complexity of various story lines and main characters distinguishes this book from a shallow romance, as does the well researched artistic and historical background plot.
Overall a most enjoyable, though speculative, read with a breathtaking and sore ending.

If the story's not true then it ought to be.
The structure, a linked story taking place in 2001 and in 1642, is smoothly and absorbingly constructed, and the language is precise and - when it needs to be - rivetting. Not least when it deals with sexual matters where without being explicit it is highly arousing.
But it's the story which I found completely absorbing, and which I wouldn't spoil any future reader's pleasure by hinting at. Say merely that if you're at all interested in art or poetry (or better, both) then this fast paced and dramatic book will give you as much pleasure as it did me.
Highly recommended.