Art and Fiction with Damian Dibben, Chloe Ashby and Sophie Haydock

Join Damian Dibben, author of The Colour Storm and Chloe Ashby, author of Wet Paint, for an evening of conversation, art and literature with Sophie Haydock, author of The Flames.

The Colour Storm, by Damian Dibben

An immersive novel of art and love that imagines the rise and fall of ‘one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of art’, Giorgione. Besieged by fierce competition and mounting debts, the artist Giorgione 'Zorzo' Barbarelli is close to ruin when he hears of a fabled colour – a pigment newly arrived in Venice – that might have the power to change his fate. In chasing it, Zorzo becomes entangled with Sybille Fugger, the enthralling but complicated wife of its proprietor. He soon finds himself engaged in the fight of his life with rival artists Michelangelo, Titian and Da Vinci – and caught up in a conspiracy that stretches across Europe and a marriage coming apart in one of the floating city’s most illustrious palazzos. Atmospheric and suspenseful, The Colour Storm is an intoxicating story of art and ambition, love and obsession.

Damian is also the author of the children's series: "The History Keepers"

Wet Paint, by Chloe Ashby

Since the death of her best friend Grace, twenty-six-year-old Eve has learned to keep everything and everyone at arm's length. Safe in her detachment, she scrapes along waiting tables and cleaning her shared flat in exchange for cheap rent, finding solace in her small routines. But when a chance encounter at work brings her past thundering into her present, Eve becomes consumed by painful memories of Grace. And soon her precariously maintained life begins to unravel: she loses her job, gets thrown out of her flat, and risks pushing away the one decent man who cares about her. Taking up life-modelling to pay the bills, Eve lays bare her body but keeps hidden the mounting chaos inside her head.

Chloe is also the author of the non-fiction title: "Colours of Art"

The Flames, by Sophie Haydock

The story of four muses... women whose bodies were shown in intimate detail, depicted by the charming yet controversial artist Egon Schiele. But who were they? Adele: his passionate and fierce admirer. Gertrude: his spirited and possessive sister. Vally: his independent and proud model. Edith: Adele's quiet and conventional sister. Or was she? The Flames reimagines the intertwining lives of these women: four wild, blazing hearts, longing to be known. In an elegant bohemian city like 1900s Vienna, everything seems possible. But just as a flame has the power to mesmerize, it can also destroy everything in its path...

We hope you can join us - all welcome!