Warpaint

Description

Four women create propaganda in WWII's darkest hour in this gripping fact-based debut novel. Buckinghamshire, 1942- in a gothic villa deep in woods near Bletchley Park, artist Vivienne Thayer paints 'Black' propaganda to demoralise the enemy. Despite government restrictions, she enjoys her work - and finds time for a lover as well as her indulgent husband - but where do acts of subterfuge end? Meanwhile, in London, three women painters - Laura Knight, Faith Farr and Cecily Browne - record wartime life. Instructed by the men in power, even Churchill himself, they must conjure up the bulldog spirit. But as the war's course turns and the lives of these artists collide, each must ask herself what truths and what lies they are prepared to tell, even to those closest to them.

Alicia Foster grew up in Yorkshire and lives in Kent. She has a PhD in Art History and when she's not writing herself, she teaches art students. Warpaint is her first novel.

In a plot full of twists, turns, double crossing and espionage, this whip-smart thriller, loosely based on real events, has great characters, authentic detail, poignancy and black comedy * Sunday Mirror * An engaging and speedy read . . . the story's bigger questions are mixed with well-considered human emotions and flashes of humour * Emerald Street * Fascinating . . . weaving together real-life events and fiction, Warpaint is an intriguing examination of the demands made on personal and artistic lives by the extreme circumstances that exist in wartime conditions * Metro * Set in 1942 and early 1943, when the fate of Britain was still in the balance, Warpaint is both a gripping thriller and a fascinating picture of four female artists attempting to work under extraordinary and often dangerous circumstances * Irish Times Weekend Review *