Daisy Chain

'A wholly delightful novel' Allan Massie, Scotsman

Lily Crawford and Jeanie Taylor, from very different backgrounds, are firm friends from their childhoods in Kirkcudbright. They share their ambitions for their futures, Lily to be an artist, Jeanie to be a dancer.

The two women's eventful lives are intertwined. In the years before the First World War, the girls lose touch when Jeanie runs away from home and joins a dance company, while Lily attends The Mack, Glasgow's famous school of art designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. A chance meeting reunites them and together they discover a Glasgow at the height of its wealth and power as the Second City of the Empire - and a city of poverty and overcrowding. Separated once again after the war, Lily and Jeanie find themselves on opposite sides of the world. Lily follows her husband to Shanghai while Jeanie's dance career brings her international fame. But the glamour and dissolution of 1920s Shanghai finally lead Lily into peril. Her only hope of survival lies with her old friend Jeanie, as the two women turn to desperate measures to free Lily from danger.

Inspired by the eventful and colourful lives of the pioneering women artists The Glasgow Girls, particularly that of Eleanor Allen Moore, Daisy Chain is a story of independence, women's art, resilience and female friendship, set against the turbulent background of the early years of the 20th century.

“Evocative and highly readable - The Herald Evocative and intelligent. A wholly delightful novel [that] celebrates friendship, love, kindness and devotion to creative work. - The Scotsman”

Evocative and highly readable The Herald
Evocative and intelligent. A wholly delightful novel [that] celebrates friendship, love, kindness and devotion to creative work. The Scotsman
An excellent homage to The Glasgow Girls... a very readable novel - both heart-breaking and hopeful. -- Amy Jefferies Scots Magazine
Daisy Chain is a novel George Eliot, Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters would have penned had they been born in 20th century Glasgow, brought up listening to the Bay City Rollers, and The Clash... the award-winning author takes readers on a dark, mysterious, and cruel journey at times, with an unexpected twisted narrative. Shine
A thrilling, twisting adventure about female friendship, independence and the determination to fulfil ambitions. Sunday Mail

Maggie Ritchie's novel, Looking for Evelyn, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for Best Published Novel of 2018. Her debut novel, Paris Kiss (2015), won the Curtis Brown Prize, was runner up for the Sceptre Prize and longlisted for the Mslexia First Novel Competition. The German edition has appeared on bestseller charts. She travelled to Shanghai on a Society of Authors' grant to research Daisy Chain, her latest novel. Maggie graduated with Distinction from the University of Glasgow's MLitt in Creative Writing. A journalist, she lives in Scotland with her husband and son.

'A wholly delightful novel' Allan Massie, Scotsman Lily Crawford and Jeanie Taylor, from very different backgrounds, are firm friends from their childhoods in Kirkcudbright. They share their ambitions for their futures, Lily to be an artist, Jeanie to be a dancer. The two women's eventful lives are intertwined. In the years before the First World War, the girls lose touch when Jeanie runs away from home and joins a dance company, while Lily attends The Mack, Glasgow's famous school of art designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. A chance meeting reunites them and together they discover a Glasgow at the height of its wealth and power as the Second City of the Empire - and a city of poverty and overcrowding. Separated once again after the war, Lily and Jeanie find themselves on opposite sides of the world. Lily follows her husband to Shanghai while Jeanie's dance career brings her international fame. But the glamour and dissolution of 1920s Shanghai finally lead Lily into peril. Her only hope of survival lies with her old friend Jeanie, as the two women turn to desperate measures to free Lily from danger. Inspired by the eventful and colourful lives of the pioneering women artists The Glasgow Girls, particularly that of Eleanor Allen Moore, Daisy Chain is a story of independence, women's art, resilience and female friendship, set against the turbulent background of the early years of the 20th century.

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