The Flames is a work of fiction, based on explosive and compelling historical facts. As soon as I encountered the intimate portraits of the “muses” who inspired Schiele’s greatest artworks in the Courtauld gallery in London, I knew I had a great story on my hands – full of sex, scandal, betrayal and heartbreak. Each of the four women I researched and wrote about got burned in their encounter with Schiele. It has been a privilege to breathe life into the bones of their stories, and give them a voice after a century of silence. I think of how the judge ignited Schiele's artwork in that courtroom more than a hundred years ago – burning, but also illuminating – and I hope The Flames shines a new light on the models who made that troubled man one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.

THE FLAMES: Sophie Haydock breathes electrifying life into THE FLAMES: Sophie Haydock breathes electrifying life into

Passionate about short stories, Sophie also works as a digital editor for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award and is associate director of the Word Factory literary organisation. She is a first reader and judge for various writing competitions and hosts her own short story club. MyHome.ie (Opens in new window) • Top 1000 • The Gloss (Opens in new window) • Recruit Ireland (Opens in new window) • Irish Times Training (Opens in new window) Edith and Adele are sisters, the daughters of a wealthy bourgeois industrialist. They are expected to follow the rules, to marry well, and produce children. Gertrude is in thrall to her flamboyant older brother. Marked by a traumatic childhood, she envies the freedom he so readily commands. Vally was born into poverty but is making her way in the world as a model for the eminent artist Gustav Klimt. Throughout it all these dynamics create flames but also there are external flames you cannot control. For example, flames of inspiration and talent, of fame and infamy passion, jealousy and so on. The external flames are of war and destruction and slightly later the encroaching flames of a devastating pandemic. I explore Egon Schiele’s relationship with Vally, and that of three other significant women in his life and art, in my debut novel. We also meet Gertrude, the artist’s little sister. Together they share a troubled childhood, at the mercy of a strict father who was slowly going mad as a result of syphilis . She goes on to pose for her brother in the nude. Their intimacy baffled me, and sparked my imagination. I wanted to know how she felt posing in this way. We also see Schiele through the eyes of Adele and Edith Harms, those well-to-do neighbours who vie to become his wife, upsetting the balance of their sisterly love in the process.

Each woman models for the charismatic young man – Egon’s fiery sibling, Gertrude Schiele, his spirited mistress Vally Neuzil, and the beguiling sisters who live across the street, Edith and Adele Harms, both of whom vie to become his wife. Under his gaze, each strike provocative poses, removing layer after layer, leaving little to the imagination. Of course, there’s more to these muses than meets the eye. I enjoyed this book very much as it’s different. I knew a bit about Egon Schiele and his art but it’s neither necessary to know of him or know anything about art as this is a portrait of human beings, of human nature and their various interactions. A very impressive debut. The Flames is the previously untold story of four real women, living in Vienna at the turn of the twentieth century – at that tipping point in time when the greatness and grandeur of the past threatens to collapse – as they enter the dizzying, dangerous orbit of the artist Egon Schiele. She is the winner of the Impress Prize for New Writers. Sophie trained as a journalist at City University, London, and has worked at the Sunday Times Magazine, Tatler and BBC Three, as well as freelancing for publications including the Financial Times, Guardian Weekend magazine, and organisations such as the Arts Council, Royal Academy and Sotheby's. Vienna at the dawn of the 20th century. An opulent, extravagant city teeming with art, music and radical ideas. A place where the social elite attend glamorous balls in the city's palaces whilst young intellectuals decry the empire across the tables of crowded cafes. It is a city where anything seems possible - if you are a man.

The Flames by Sophie Haydock - Publishers Weekly The Flames by Sophie Haydock - Publishers Weekly

A new century is dawning. Vienna is at its zenith, an opulent, extravagant city teeming with art, music and radical ideas. It is a place where anything seems possible... Through the perspective of Adele Harms, Gertrude Schiele, Vally Neuzil, and Edith Harms (Schiele), we get to learn some historical facts splashed with bits of fiction of what these women might have been like and felt and how they influenced Egon and his art. Vienna at the dawn of the 20th century is an opulent, extravagant city teeming with art, music, and radical ideas. A place where the social elite attend glamorous balls in the city’s palaces while young intellectuals decry the empire across the tables of crowded cafés. It is a city where anything seems possible—if you are a man. The novel is well-researched . . . and the author has an impressive knowledge of Schiele, his works and his milieu, both artistic and historical. It is an engaging read . . . a most impressive work of historical fiction.”But the artist carries demons from his past that could destroy everything. Must he sacrifice everyone he loves to succeed? Beneath his confident brushstrokes, ensnared in the pigment, are secrets of heartbreak, deception and betrayal that finally come to the surface. blogtour Adventure Ancient Egypt Art History Australia Book Blogger Bookliterati Book Recommendation Book review Christmas Contemporary Fiction Crime Del Rey Doubleday Emmeline Kirby and Gregory Longdon Mystery Fantasy Festive Reads Florence Folklore Harper Collins Historical Fiction History Independently Published Italy Karen Swan Literary Fiction Magic Mantle Books Melville House Murder Mystery Myth Orenda Books Pan Macmillan Penguin Random House Psychological thriller Romance Secrets Simon and Schuster Supernatural Suspense thriller Venice Women's Fiction Zaffre Books Book title Search for: Search Search Recent Comments Schiele was still intimate with Vally while he surreptitiously courted, and eventually proposed to, one of the Harms sisters. Class was definitely at play in his decision. Vally would never have been seen as “marriage material”, despite inspiring some of his most profound artworks, including a portrait of her alongside a physalis, painted after his release from prison in 1912. She worked hard, she was loyal, but according to the customs of the day, because she was of a lower class, she wasn’t deemed good enough to become his wife. Walburga, or Vally as she is known in my debut The Flames, proved her loyalty by standing by the troubled artist throughout his darkest days – the 24 days of his imprisonment in a tiny cell, in the small Austrian town of Neulengbach, on charges of “public immorality” relating to his artwork. Further charges of kidnap and seduction of a minor – resulting from an incident where Schiele and Vally accompanied a 14-year old girl to Vienna – had been dropped, but there could be no denying that the artworks Schiele created were explicit, erotically charged. The locals had been angered by the artist and his “mistress”, and the fact his works were displayed in his home, viewed by schoolchildren, tempted by the forbidden. Egon Schiele’s life is revealed through the eyes of the women around him. His single-minded pursuit of his art and his callous self-indulgence lead one of them to madness, another to self-mutilation and an early demise. Yet all pay tribute to his talent. The New York Times Book Review

The Flames by Sophie Haydock | Goodreads

This is a debut novel and I really like the way the author weaves fact with fiction to bring these characters to life. I especially enjoyed the way she explores the potential dynamics between the flames/muses to create a fascinating narrative throughout. The triangle between Egon and the two sisters is especially intriguing but also how Vally fits into the jigsaw. The one that especially fascinates me is the relationship between Egon and Gertrude and here you learn much about the man. It is possible her novel might have been stronger if she had grappled more fully with these moral complexities. However, the mystery and ambiguity of Schiele the man is inseparable from the power of his art; no matter how we interpret his actual relationships with women, his paintings often give them a power and autonomy generally absent in the other art of his era. The Flames reimagines the intertwining lives of these women: four wild, blazing hearts, longing to be known. In an elegant bohemian city like 1900s Vienna, everything seems possible. But just as a flame has the power to mesmerize, it can also destroy everything in its path … A drama of love, loss, rivalry and betrayal. A terrific debut, brilliantly imagined' Saga Debut of the Month A glorious success . . . an impressive and highly enjoyable debut . . . an expansive novel of the gaze and the image." GuardianShe declined – and I enjoyed imagining precisely the words she used to express her dismay and sense of betrayal during that pivotal scene, in The Flames – and never saw him again. This was during the first World War, and Vally left Vienna not long after, to become a military nurse with the Red Cross, stationed in Dalmatia. She died of scarlet fever soon after, and was buried in an unmarked grave. Happily, in 2018, it was restored to give this dynamic and determined young woman a headstone and the recognition she deserved. Passionate about short stories, Sophie also works for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award and is associate director of the Word Factory literary organisation. She interviews leading authors including Hilary Mantel (pictured with Sophie, above), Maggie O’Farrell, Bernardine Evaristo, Sally Rooney and Amy Tan. The title The Flames must surely refer to the inflammatory role this artist played in society at the time. It describes the women who are burnt by him, and scared. However it also looks the fire of unrequited love, of passion, betrayal and the inflammatory way Schiele’s art lit up the art world.

The Flames by Sophie Haydock | Waterstones The Flames by Sophie Haydock | Waterstones

A glorious success . . . an impressive and highly enjoyable debut . . . an expansive novel of the gaze and the image."— Guardian Her debut novel, The Flames, about the four muses who posed for the artist Egon Schiele in Vienna more than 100 years ago, won the Impress Prize for New Writers. It will be published by Doubleday / Penguin Random House in March 2022 and translated into several languages.The Flames paints a history so detailed and vivid that we feel we were there in the flesh. A book to get lost in, a great feat of a debut." author of the Booker Prize–winning novel Ver DBC Pierre Set in the extravagant, Bohemian art world of early 20th century Vienna, the electrifying untold story of the four women who posed for and inspired the groundbreaking erotic art of controversial painter Egon Schiele This is the story of four muses…Women whose bodies were shown in intimate detail, depicted by the charming yet controversial artist Egon Schiele. But who were they?