Francis Bacon's Nanny

Jessie Lightfoot, a nanny from Cornwall, barely appears in accounts of Francis Bacon's life, yet she was the one constant at his side: she sheltered the boy from a brutal father and, years later in London, from his own self-destructive habits. Her warmth and earthy wit offset the cruelty he met as a child. Through her voice the novel also paints Ireland in the early decades of the last century, a land of unrest but also of great beauty, whose scenery and animals would return again and again in his paintings.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

247 pages in the original

Genres

Historical (assigned by AI)

Set in

Ireland, United Kingdom

First published

2023 by Gallimard

Author's age

41 when first published

ISBN

9782073026064 (original)

9781843518884 (The Lilliput Press, Ireland)