Loretta Proctor

I would willingly pass my life writing and re-writing the same book - that one book every writer carries within him - the image of his own soul.

The Crimson Bed tells of two striving artists, successes, failures, and the beautiful women who inspire them. But another layer lies beneath this charming picture, secrets from the past that can no longer be concealed

Frederic Ashton Thorpe and his best friend, Henry Winstone, are artists immersed in the Pre-Raphaelite movement with its yearning for romantic escape from the materialism of Victorian society. Seeing a half finished portrait of the beautiful Eleanor Farnham at Henry’s studio, Fred is fascinated and returns in order to meet her. He and Ellie fall in love and are married.

But every heart hides a secret and both Fred and Ellie have put certain events behind them – events that, if exposed, could threaten their blissful new life. Fred is haunted by shameful memories which lead him into the darkness of the London slums and a very different world to that of his peaceful home. After her mother’s death, Ellie inherits the Crimson Bed, a family heirloom passed down through the female line since Elizabethan times. However with the bed come ancestral secrets that will eventually affect Ellie as much as the unhappy memories from her own past.

Their dearest friend, Henry Winstone is a brilliant and talented artist. He begins to experience success and fame but his life is haunted by tragedy and loss.

Passions escalate as Fred becomes increasingly jealous of Ellie’s closeness to her handsome godfather, Lord Percy Dillinger, and when shocking truths finally come to light, their lives will never be the same again...

cover picture:- The Crystal Ball (1902) by John William Waterhouse Christie's Images Ltd.- Artothek

Set against the backdrop of the revolution in art that was started by the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the 1850s, 'The Crimson Bed' is a tale of
secrets and jealousies, omissions and lies. At her father's request, young
Eleanor Farnham sits for a minor pre-Raphaelite artist and, via this
sitting, finds herself drawn into the world of art and of artistic romance.
Eventually finding what she hopes in true love with struggling artist
Frederick Ashton Thorpe, Eleanor is nevertheless still in love with her
childhood sweetheart who, she believes, has abandoned her.

Of course in books, as in life, nothing is as simple as it seems and both
Eleanor and Frederick are at the mercy of the many secrets that exist in
their families. Lies have been told to them and they in turn have told lies.
But then for every rule breaking, free living Millais or Rosetti there were
thousand upon thousands of tortured Victorians trying, and mostly failing,
to live within the strict moral dictates of the day. People like Eleanor and
Frederick. It is their individual struggles to untangle their pasts, to
discover their own personal truths and to find a way to live together in
peace that constitutes the main thrust of this story. As an exploration of
the often hypocritical mores of the time, it is fascinating. Illicit sex was
everywhere in Victorian England and yet to be caught actually indulging in
it was tantamount to social suicide. Loretta Proctor tackles this very well
and one can really feel the torment her characters experience as they fall,
sometimes again and again, from what is considered a state of monogamous
grace.

Details do not always contain the devil for me and some of Loretta's details
are divine. One can really see and smell the naughty old London pleasure
gardens where young men of quality and young ladies on the make were wont to
roam. I also like the way that the actual Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood are
kept at the periphery of the novel, not influencing but affecting the main
characters lives. But it is the Crimson Bed itself that really benefits from
the author's eye for detail. A metaphor for a womb if ever I saw one -
sorry, psychology graduate speaking here - it is a lovely and yet at the
same time, forbidding thing and men and woman have very different opinions
of it. I enjoyed The Crimson Bed enormously both as a novel and as an
account of the secretive, if not secret, world of the Victorians.

Fourteen-year-old Andrew discovers his mother's hidden diary at his grandmother's home during a Christmas gathering. His eyes are opened to a family secret when he reads about her time as a Red Cross nurse in Salonika during the First World War, and the tragic love affair she had with his father, a Greek officer who died in battle. Four years later, Andrew is impelled to visit his father's land and trace his roots. What - and who - he finds there will change his life forever.
The Long Shadow is filled with descriptions of Greece and its people. Dramatic images of battle and the terrible conditions endured by the Allied Armies entrenched around Salonika in the “Birdcage” are authentic and vivid. Greek “rebetika” music and dance play a vital role, reconciling in Andrew the dichotomy of belonging to two very different cultures and helping him to unite them in his heart and soul.

'I'm immensely impressed by the novel, especially the Greek scenes. It's a marvellously accomplished book.....many congratulations on an impressive achievement.' Colin Wilson (author of The Outsider, Mysteries, The Occult and many others.)

'Loretta Proctor spins a poignant, gripping story, moving back in time from the calm of a family home in England to the upheaval of wartime Greece - a world which she brings vividly to life. I kept on reading into the early hours.' Francis McNeil (author of Somewhere Behind the Morning)

Andrew is growing up after WWI, the illegitimate son of an American nurse and a Greek officer who died in the war. It is the story of his search to find himself and his place in the world by retracing his mother’s steps in Greece.
This was a very engaging read! The plot, tempo, characters, dialogue and setting were all superbly crafted. The WWI descriptions were incredibly well-written offering the reader everything needed to “live” those scenarios right along with the characters of the book. The Greek feel of the story is excellent, truly taking the reader to another place and time. I also loved the “life coming full circle” theme of the ending. As I get older, I realize how true to life that concept is. It played wonderfully in this story. I would be interested in reading anything this author has written!

Reviewed by: Ramona

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