Afterimage: A Novel [Paperback]

Helen Humphreys (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2002

Inspired by the life of Julia Margaret Cameron, Afterimage is the bold and provocative story of Annie Phelan, a maid in the home of Isabel and Eldon Dashell. Isabel is experimenting with the new medium of photography, and is inspired by Annie, who becomes her muse. The two form a close relationship, but when Eldon devises his own plans for the young maid, Annie nearly loses herself, until disaster reveals her power over the Dashells’ work and hearts.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Inspired by the Victorian photography of Julia Margaret Cameron, Canadian author Humphreys creatively invents the world behind the images of a costumed house maid. Acknowledging a debt to Jane Eyre, Humphreys sets her beguiling tale in the mid-19th-century English countryside, where doe-eyed Annie Phelan comes to work at Middle Road Farm. What she encounters there is alien to her strict, religious upbringing as a servant after her family died in the Irish famine. Her new mistress, Isabelle, is the unconventional daughter of local gentry and a passionate artist attempting to prove her skill in the new medium of photography. Isabelle uses her house staff as models in elaborately concocted photo shoots and discovers the obedient Annie to be an expressive and intriguing portrait subject. Viewing Annie dressed up as Ophelia, Sappho or the Madonna, 30ish Isabelle begins to feel an attraction to the younger woman the kind of attraction she no longer feels for her husband, Eldon. He is a mapmaker with ambitions to be a world explorer, and he also admires Annie, whom he calls "Phelan" when she becomes a participant in his imaginary expedition to the Arctic. He also helps her to satisfy her own obsession, which is reading, by allowing her to borrow books from his library. The atmosphere that encloses this evolving love triangle is sometimes erotic, sometimes poignant and always complicated by Victorian class issues. A fiery denouement causes Annie to question her past and reconsider her future with Isabelle. Humphreys, author of four books of poetry and the acclaimed novel Leaving Earth, has an impeccable command of imagery, and her prose finds strengths in its subtlety. A hauntingly beautiful reproduction of a Cameron photo on the jacket should pull readers to this finely wrought novel.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The year is 1865, and Annie Phelen, an Irish maid who reads Jane Eyre, arrives at the country home of Isabelle and Eldon Dashell in the south of England. The Dashells are an unusual couple for their time they have cast aside God, embraced Darwin, and are anxious to explore new worlds. Eldon, a cartographer, wishes to explore the Arctic. Isabelle's fascination with art and technology has lead her to a creative career as a photographer (her character is modeled on Julia Margaret Cameron). Each vies for Annie's heart and soul, but the more powerful Isabelle re-creates Annie into a model, muse, and finally lover. Canadian writer Humpreys, who has published another imaginative novel, Leaving Earth, as well as poetry, has produced a fascinating novel that works on many levels. It is at once moody and humorous, while (only occasionally too self-consciously) exploring the nature of art, creativity, and technology. Highly recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, OR
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Picador (March 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312420641
• ISBN-13: 978-0312420642
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,081,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Afterimages leaves long-lasting impression!, April 27, 2001

By 

patricia spano (phoenix, az United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Afterimage (Hardcover)

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read. I found this book difficult to put down, it was like reading a long poem. Not only was the plot intriguing and the characters interesting, but the syle and language employed by the author was nothing less than beautiful. She is able to evoke complex images with a minimum of words. The book tells the story of Annie Phelan, a destitute young woman who works as a maid for the well-off couple, Isabelle and Eldon Dashell. She becomes a muse to both of them, and profoundly changes by this process. The themes throughout the book are familiar ones. Love, greed, ambition, etc., all played out against a backround of class difference. There are no startling revelations, but still you find yourself holding your breath until the last page, when you let it out with a sigh, wanting more.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful piece of art!, November 13, 2001

By 

Gronroos Anni (Helsinki, Finland, Europe) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Afterimage (Hardcover)

I finally got this book (It's a pain to live in Finland where no GOOD foreign books are available!) and from the minute I laid my hands on it, it was almost impossible to put it down. It is a powerful book, its power lies in the wonderful poetic language and in the atmosphere that makes you want to hold your breath in order to avoid disturbing it.

It is a very reader-friendly book, it in many ways lets the reader decide what exactly happens in the end. In that way it's much like a poem. And I love it.

Humphreys has a wonderful way of describing emotional worlds. I think that some may be put off by the so called lack of plot, because on the outside, many things don't happen. However, what I think Afterimage clearly points out, is that usually the inner self and psychological maturing are much more... Dare I say, valuable things to describe in prose. TV and movies present action, let literature give insight!

And even though nothing "really" happens between Annie and Isabelle, I think the intimacy of their relationship might even exceed the intimacy of a normal, sexual relationship. I think, as a reader, what they had was something more than that. (Moving on to speculation at this point, I guess) One can't always act out emotion, but it doesn't make it any less valuable.

It's one of the best books I've read. Please, give me more!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Victorian Mirror, November 20, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Afterimage (Hardcover)

This is one of the best recent novels I have read this year, and one of the most successful attempts ever to imagine the Victorians from a contemporary point of view. Hughes introduces us to the inner lives of an Irish servant who has lost her family; a rebellious upper-class woman struggling to realize her artistic vision and ambitions;and a weak husband who has relinquished his dreams of mapping the world. The language is beautiful, dense, revelatory, and Hughes shows us the Victorians as they could not show themselves.