Life Mask
LIFE MASK (New York: Harcourt, 2004, hardback ISBN 0151009430, paperback ISBN 0156032643)(London: Virago, 2004, ISBN 1-86049-980-5 (hardback), 1-84408-175-3 (paperback)). LIFE MASK is about a love triangle in 1790s London, among the elite who moved through the overlapping worlds of art, politics, sport and theatre. It tells the tangled true story of three people who lived in the harsh glare of publicity: the Honourable Mrs Anne Damer (a widowed sculptor with a Sapphic reputation), the Earl of Derby (a fabulously wealthy politician who founded the Derby horserace), and Eliza Farren (the leading comedy actress on the British stage). An audiobook version of LIFE MASK, narrated by Donada Peters, is available on cassette and cd from Books On Tape / Random House at www.booksontape.com/bookdetail.cfm/6527-CD or can be downloaded from audible.com : www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=BK_BKOT_001158&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes
LIFE MASK was a finalist in the 2005 Lambda and Ferro-Grumley Awards for Lesbian Fiction and the Stonewall Book Award, and was chosen as one of the Best Books of 2004 by the WASHINGTON POST.
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‘Fabulously entertaining… a full-bodied tale that satisfies the head and the heart’ – KIRKUS
‘A mesmerizing new novel, which at 650 pages is like one of those great 19th-century tomes that you're sad to see come to an end.... Donoghue...has alighted on another terrific story, and she pulls off a dazzling feat of choreography in setting it all in motion. She takes obvious delight in the sumptuous details of dress and comportment, the subtle inflections in conversation and the slow blooming of erotic tension. As Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire would say, 'It was all simply ravish.'" – WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
‘A brilliantly woven tale’ – TIME OUT
‘Mesmerizing… terrific story… a dazzling feat.’ – ELLE
‘An atmosphere of passionate sensuality; small private spaces and intimate moments for the protagonists act as a counterpart to the salacious gossip and heartlessness of the wider world… It is thanks to Donoghue’s skill as a novelist that her characters are so vividly and amusingly resurrected.’ – TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
‘Vividly alive… complex and moving.’ – SUNDAY TIMES
‘Donoghue… has an extraordinary talent for turning exhaustive research into plausible characters and narratives; she presents a vibrant world seething with repressed feeling and class tensions.’ – PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)
‘Wonderfully erudite and sensual.’ – BOOKS IN CANADA