Image of Laura

by Joy Martin

From 1930s Berlin to contemporary London, nothing has escaped Laura Conway’s trusty Leica camera.She’s famed throughout the world for her shots as diverse as innocent children and drop-outs in pre-war Berlin to the long-legged catwalk models and celebrities of the swinging sixties. Now 75, the art world is celebrating Laura’s birthday with a glittering opening party at her retrospective exhibition. And Cassie, her journalist granddaughter, has discovered the perfect present — she's tracked down the very handcrafted desk belonging to Laura at the start of her career, back in Berlin.But the moment of unveiling only brings shock and sorrow. Cassie is horrified. What dreadful memories has the bureau brought back? Cassie begins to realize that her famous grandmother — always ready to listen and advise on the trials of love of those around her — has never really come clean about her own affairs of the heart...Sweeping across defining moments in history of the twentieth century, The Image of Laura is a gripping tale of passion, family loyalty and art.Joy Martin was born in Limerick. She trained as a journalist and worked on Dublin's Evening Press , then moved to writing news for the Zambia Broadcasting Corporation and the BBC Home and External Services . She has also broadcast on radio in Ireland, Zambia, South Africa and Britain. She is the acclaimed author of, among other titles, A Wrong to Sweeten , A Heritage of Wrong and The Moon is Red in April .

396 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Joy Martin is an Irish journalist and author. Born in Limerick, where she was educated at Laurel Hill Convent, her father was an English Protestant and her mother an Irish Catholic. As Ireland’s Assistant Land Commissioner, her great grandfather, John George O’Brien Kelly, a lawyer and agriculturalist, brokered the deal which gave tenants the right to purchase land over a 30-year period, turning him into a national hero. The O’Brien Kellys owned most of the land on the boundaries of Limerick and Clare and three Georgian manors, Moylish House, Clonmacken House and Fedamore House.
Joy writes:
‘Living in a cottage on my grandfather’s land, I played in these houses as a child so, inevitably, tales of secret passages leading down to the river, illicit love affairs, murder, conspiracy and ghosts on the stairs found their way into my novels.’
Her first short story was published when she was still at school. She trained as a journalist on a local paper, The Limerick Weekly Echo, and subsequently worked as a reporter on The Evening Press, in Dublin, the Rand Daily Mail, in Johannesburg and for BBC Home News and World Service

You can hear about how Joy Martin's writing process in the link below:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Sl4...

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I brought this book sometime ago at a lifeline bookfest, the cover intrigued me.

Judging the cover I thought itbwas a story of a young woman, almost a heiress type of situation. Instead I got a story that's complicated.

At first were following Cassie, a young woman who works for the BBC, she discover long list items of her grandmother's, and tries to surpise Laura with it, but now in her 70s, Laura doesn't want to remember her WW2 experience. Than the story switches to Rebecca; Laura's daughter, a woman in a loveless marriage, with kids and ultimately ends up in a car accident. Before following Richard, Rebecca's husband who has an affair with Laura, and struggles to move on, and we end up following Sophie; who becomes Richard's second-hand, she's extremely racist towards Africans, than following Rob; Sophie's son, who falls in love with Cassie, before following Dominic, who falls in love with Cassie, before returning back to Cassie and Laura.

The story starts off strong with the remembrance of WW2 and the disconnect Laura has with her heartbroken past as her grandchild chases ghosts but than it turned into mess through the decades as we follow different people that in the end I have no true idea what the story is actually about.

The synopsis focuses solely on Cassie and Laura's journey of a collection from the past and not one mentions that it'd stray from that path vs what the story is actually about..whatever it is.