Radical Woman

Finalist in the Page Turner Awards 2022 This major new novel by the best-selling Maggie Humm is the story of artist Gwen John’s tumultuous affair with the French sculptor Auguste Rodin.This historical romance literary fiction is told in the first-person present tense. It explores Gwen’s journey from a naïve young woman to a self-confident and celebrated artist. Both Rodin and Gwen John were radical artists who challenged the conventions of art and respectability in the early years of the twentieth century. Here Gwen steps out from the shadows cast first by her brother Augustus John the painter, and then by Rodin, to play her part in the furthering the cause of female artists to be treated as equals by their male counterparts. The novel is largely set in London and Paris between 1897 and 1917, and focusses on pivotal moments which transform Gwen’s life.