The Beauties

The Beauties

An incomparable beauty. A promise to a king. A portrait that can never be completed. Longlisted for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize When Emilia Lennox loses everything after her husband’s lands and title are confiscated, her beauty is her best bargaining chip with the only man who can restore their fortunes: King Charles II himself. But the king’s favour comes at a price. He will pardon Emilia’s husband only if she agrees to be his mistress. Torn, Emilia comes up with a condition of her own: she will consent, but not until her portrait hangs among the famed Windsor Beauties, a series commissioned by the Duchess of York to showcase the fairest women in the royal retinue. For Henry Greenhill, ambitious assistant to the court painter, the opportunity to paint Emilia’s portrait is a chance to step out of his master’s shadow. But his sitter proves as evasive as she is beautiful, and with barely a sketch to show for his efforts, Henry’s career is on the line. As the king’s patience wears thin, it’s clear that more than creative talent will be needed to capture this incomparable beauty on canvas ... From the bestselling author of The Lace Weaver comes this seductive story of rivalry, artistic passion and a woman bold enough to wield her beauty as a weapon.

The Beauties & Defects in the Figure of the Horse, Comparatively Delineated

The Little Beauty of the Beauties

"The Galicians were decidedly masculine and brim full of energy and walked with the confidence of athletes. Each day they practiced the arts of war in the palace grounds where they were watched with admiration from the balconies. Their leader Gaythelos was a handsome man, a round face with a fine nose in proportion to his face, dark eyebrows over blue eyes, a rarity in Egypt, and his hair long, braided then swept back and held by a silver clasp. Nefer’neferure, like the other daughters of the Pharaoh had admired him greatly"