Raised in myth. Silenced by scandal. As her mother lies dying, Iseult Gonne must reclaim the one story she was never allowed to tell – her own.
Dublin, 1953. Iseult Gonne embarks on a pilgrimage through the city, her small dog Magi by her side. She is on her way to her mother’s deathbed in Roebuck. Iseult has lived in the shadow of greatness. Her poetry rivalled Yeats’s. Her beauty mirrored Maud Gonne’s. Yet, born out of wedlock, her identity as Maud’s daughter was denied.
Now time is running short. As the city unfolds before her, memories surface – of convent discipline and glittering salons, of revolutionary hope and private heartbreak, of love denied and loss that shaped her. What begins as a quest for maternal acknowledgment unfolds into a deeply moving personal reckoning.
Iseult is a haunting, lyrical novel that restores a remarkable woman from the margins of history to the centre of her own story, as a daughter walks towards her mother – and herself.
Dublin, 1953. Iseult Gonne embarks on a pilgrimage through the city, her small dog Magi by her side. She is on her way to her mother’s deathbed in Roebuck. Iseult has lived in the shadow of greatness. Her poetry rivalled Yeats’s. Her beauty mirrored Maud Gonne’s. Yet, born out of wedlock, her identity as Maud’s daughter was denied.
Now time is running short. As the city unfolds before her, memories surface – of convent discipline and glittering salons, of revolutionary hope and private heartbreak, of love denied and loss that shaped her. What begins as a quest for maternal acknowledgment unfolds into a deeply moving personal reckoning.
Iseult is a haunting, lyrical novel that restores a remarkable woman from the margins of history to the centre of her own story, as a daughter walks towards her mother – and herself.
Reviews
Helen Cullen has brought Iseult Gonne to life in a powerful story of a daughter seeking a place in her mother's heart. A young woman trapped in mythology and surrounded by fame, is caught in a lonely struggle between beauty and freedom. This novel brilliantly riffles through Irish history and makes her human, with all her secrets
In this multi-layered and compelling novel, Helen Cullen has not put a foot wrong. Beautifully controlled and seamlessly researched, Iseult is one of those rare novels that lingers with the reader, heart, body and mind. Surely among the finest historical novels of 2027
A towering achievement. Iseult is extraordinarily alive and real, as are all the characters. This novel is a masterclass in voice and perspective, immersing the reader completely and joyfully
A beautifully immersive, fascinating and moving novel
An exceptional, beautifully realised novel - rich in voice, memory and atmosphere - that bravely reclaims a voice from the shadows of Ireland's literary giants. I loved it
Iseult is an ambitious and powerful literary novel rendering one woman's life beautifully and skilfully. This is a beautifully observed novel: sensory, deep thinking, lyrical and devastating. I was deeply moved
Iseult is an infinitely moving and masterful novel that is both beautifully written and expertly crafted. This is Helen Cullen at the top of her game
Iseult is a wonderful illumination of a life lived through some of the most turbulent times of Irish history. It is also a wonderful examination of a life lived in the shadow of Maud Gonne, and what it might mean to be her daughter - as well as the complications of being anyone's daughter
This gorgeous, melancholic novel about Iseult, illegitimate daughter of the legendary Irish nationalist Maud Gonne, explores their problematic relationships with each other and a skein of famous men, revealing wider truths about the relegation of women to the role of muse or amanuensis, the trade-offs and different standards they routinely face, and the price of beauty and the invisibility that follows its loss
Helen Cullen deconstructs the legacy of the poetic muse to recover a complex, intelligent and very human Iseult Gonne. Impeccably researched and heart-breaking. A brilliant and important novel
Beautifully immersive and tenderly observed, Iseult captures the rich and generous-spirited inner life of an artist who through no fault of her own has lived under the shadow of another. This iconic and age-old tale is complicated by the fact that this shadow is that of her mother, who is also the great love of her life. This is a wise, humane and thought-provoking novel