Becoming Belle

O'Connor, Nuala

ISBN 10: 1432854658 ISBN 13: 9781432854652

Publisher: Thorndike Pr, 2018

Synopsis

Based on the true story of a woman destined for stardom, and the boundary-crossing love affair that enthralled Victorian London.

In 1887, Isabel Bilton is the eldest daughter of a middle-class military family in a small garrison town. By 1891, she is the Countess of Clancarty, dubbed "the peasant countess" by the press, and a member of the Irish aristocracy. Becoming Belle is the story of the four years in between, of her rapid ascent and the people that tried to tear her down
With only her talent, charm, and determination, Isabel moves to London alone at age nineteen, changes her name to Belle and takes the city by storm. A true bohemian and the star of a double act she performs with her sister, she soon falls passionately in love with William, Viscount Dunlo, a young aristocrat. For Belle, her marriage to William is a dream come true, though his ruthless father makes it clear that he'll stop at nothing to keep her in her place. As their marriage takes center stage in London's courtrooms and in the newspapers, Belle finds herself on trial not only for her wedding vows, but for the very life she's fought so hard to create.
An inherently feminist novel about passion and marriage, Becoming Belle is a celebration of an unstoppable woman ahead of her time.

About this title

Review:

"O'Connor has brought to life the magnificent and headstrong Belle. The remarkable details of nineteenth-century London and Galway, Ireland, make the book a rich piece of historical fiction." --Suzanne Desrochers, bestselling author of Bride of New France

"A stunning historical reimagining." --Library Journal (starred review)

"Nuala O'Connor has the thrilling ability to step back nimbly and enter the deep dance of time―this is a hidden history laid luminously before us of an exultant Anglo-Irish woman navigating the dark shoals and the bright fields of a life." ―Sebastian Barry, award-winning author of The Secret Scripture and Days Without End

"The period setting comes alive thanks to O'Connor's lively prose and dialogue." --Kirkus Reviews

"Becoming Belle is a glorious novel in which Belle Bilton and 19th century London are brought roaring to life with exquisite period detail. In her portrayal of Belle, Nuala O'Connor delivers a seductive study of a complex and fascinating woman, who deserves the stage provided for her in this wonderful book." --Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of A Memory of Violets

"Masterful storytelling! I was putty in Nuala O'Connor's hands. She made the unsinkable Belle Bilton and her down-to-earth sister Flo real to me, and brought 1880's London to my living room. Encore! Encore!" --Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe

"O'Connor has a genius for finding the universal and unifying life essence of seemingly diverse women as they nurture their deepest sensibilities and draw upon their enduring strength. ... O'Connor's rendering of a now little-known nineteenth-century music hall dancer in Becoming Belle is thrillingly dramatic and achingly moving and profoundly resonant into this present era." --Robert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

"Becoming Belle is luscious, addictive and as satisfyingly wise as it is huge of heart. Nuala O'Connor has gone in deep to imagine the life of a fascinating woman, and from the dance floor to the townhouse to the bedroom, she renders Belle Bilton's passion, determination and vulnerability bracingly real. A treat as well as a tribute; utterly absorbing." --Belinda McKeon, author of Tender

"Nuala O'Connor is a gifted writer who, with incandescent characters and mellifluous prose, captivates the reader with the same command as magnificent theatre. Becoming Belle is so mesmerizing you will be distraught when it ends and you remember that she lives no more. O'Connor has resurrected a fiery, inexorable woman who rewrites the script on a stage supposedly ruled by men. Sensual, witty, daring, and unapologetically forward, Belle Bilton and her cohorts will dance on in your mind long after the curtains fall." --Lisa Carey, author of The Stolen Child

"A thoroughly engrossing and entertaining read. O'Connor's meticulous attention to period detail and scrutiny of the upper classes and their shallow lives [is] reminiscent of Edith Wharton at her very best. It also makes us question whether women have ever really escaped from the censorious judgement of Victorian times." --Liz Nugent, author of Unraveling Oliver

About the Author:

Nuala O'Connor is the author of Miss Emily and has also written in her native Ireland under the name Nuala Ní Chonchúir. She has won many fiction awards, was twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was shortlisted for the the European Prize for Literature. O'Connor has been published in Granta, The Stinging Fly, The Best Small Fictions and Guernica, among many others. She lives a stone's throw away from Belle's final residence, Garbally Court in East Galway, with her husband and three children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Pr
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1432854658
• ISBN 13: 9781432854652
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 585