It took me longer to read than I expected although it is not a particularly long book. The pace is slow, Quinn takes times to describe his settings with characteristic care of detail. Essentially this is a gentle mystery, a question runs throughout the three sections: what happened to the painting ‘Molly & the Captain’?

Harry ( David Anthony Higgins) attends the same Overeaters Anonymous meetings as Mike and Molly and becomes their friend. He is depicted as socially awkward and lonely, and tends to say whatever is on his mind, even thoughts that make him seem pathetic. Harry initially pursued Victoria as a love interest. The two dated once, and while it is suggested that Victoria does so out of sympathy, they attended a few other events as friends and Harry has been visibly happy to spend time with her in any capacity. In Season 3, after he finally receives a kiss from her, he announces that he's gay (to everyone's surprise except Joyce and Carl). Vince tends to speak for the group in one sense by constantly making fun of Harry and wondering why he's invited to any of their events, while Mike responds by saying they all basically like Harry even though he can be incredibly annoying. As revealed in "Gone Cheatin", he still lives with his mother.

Browse members by letter

Curtis wrote that “Captain Molly”, seeing her husband fall, “threw down the pail of water, and crying to her dead consort, ‘lie there my darling while I avenge ye,’ grasped the ramrod” to fire the cannon. While Brown didn’t see the Titanic sink—she claimed that Lifeboat No. 6 was at least a mile and a half away by the time it did—she noted that a “great sweep of water” went over the boat, and at that time, the other passengers on her lifeboat all knew “the steamer was gone.” Firstly the diaries and letter of Laura Merrymount recount events mainly in the 1780s. Whilst Merrymount is imaginary, (inspired by Thomas Gainsborough), the voice of Laura is utterly convincing as she describes her own career as an artist, an unfortunate marital rivalry with Molly and then a period of caring for her, as spinsters together in Kentish Town. The style is impeccably 18th century epistolary. Samuel/Babatunde ( Nyambi Nyambi) is a sarcastic waiter at Abe's, where Mike and Carl eat. He is often seen hanging out with Carl and Mike, and despite frequently insulting them, he is considered their friend. He is from Africa and often refers to the suffering in his home country of Senegal, from which his parents sent him to be successful. [1] As such, he does not sympathize with most problems his restaurant patrons bring to his attention, believing them to be "petty". In seasons 1 and 2, he lives with 5 roommates who are also from Africa. He becomes Carl's roommate in Season 3. In Season 5, Samuel's real name is revealed to be Babatunde when he becomes the owner of Abe's Diner, now Abe's Hot Beef. He states the previous owner was so cheap he wouldn't buy him a badge with Babatunde on it, instead giving him a former employee's badge. He notes that the high cost of replacing the sign will keep the Abe's name intact until he can afford to proudly put up a sign for "Babatunde's Restaurant". I enjoyed the last section the most the characters here for me were more easy to identify with .I loved the character descriptions here which were well defined and interesting .There was also more of a story line in this section and it moved along faster keeping my attention

U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs. “Margaret Cochran Corbin: Revolutionary Heroine.” A ccessed on October 15, 2014. Americans don’t need to rely on legends to tell the stories of women in the Revolution, however. There is much stronger evidence that another woman, Margaret Corbin (whom historians think also contributed to the Molly Pitcher legend) manned a canon at the Battle of Fort Washington in New York and lost the use of her left arm in the process. She was sent to the Corps of Invalids at West Point, where she was known in the records as “Captain Molly,” and became the first woman in American history to receive a lifelong pension for military service. In the 20th century, and with a writer’s sleight of hand, Quinn cleverly re- introduces the youthful film star, Billie Cantrip. She was one of the characters of an earlier novel, Eureka. Here, she comes across as self-centred and manipulative. Then there is her sister ,Tash, who has an outlandish taste in clothes and is politically active. Nell, their mother, is a well-known artist. A television documentary on her is just about to be aired and she has a retrospective exhibition at a well-known gallery. Passionate, single, middle-aged – small wonder that she has an affair. And the painting? Quinn is uncompromising with his plot. There are hints along the way but with typical aplomb he keeps us guessing to the end. This is a captivating and superbly crafted novel. A celebrated artist of the Georgian era paints his two young daughters at the family home in Bath. The portrait, known as “Molly & the Captain”, becomes instantly famous. In the summer of 1889, a young painter glimpses a mother at play with her two daughters in Kensington Gardens and decides to include them in his picture. A century later, in Kentish Town, a painter and her grown-up daughters receive news of an ancestor linking them to the long-vanished double portrait. Berkin, Carol. Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005).After a brief courtship, the pair were married on September 1, 1886. It was ultimately a love match for her. “I wanted a rich man, but I loved Jim Brown,” she said of her husband. “I thought about how I wanted comfort for my father and how I had determined to stay single until a man presented himself who could give to the tired old man the things I longed for him. Jim was as poor as we were, and had no better chance in life. I struggled hard with myself in those days. I loved Jim, but he was poor. Finally, I decided that I'd be better off with a poor man whom I loved than with a wealthy one whose money had attracted me. So I married Jim Brown.” 4. The Browns were “new money.” Diamant, Lincoln, ed. Revolutionary Women: In the War For American Independence. Westport: Praeger, 1998. Years after the war, Hays applied for a pension from the state of Pennsylvania as the widow of a war veteran. Significantly, her pension was given “for services rendered.”