Review: Cut Out by Michele Roberts
Cut Out by Michele Roberts
Review by Sarah O’Mahoney
Travelling to Nice to visit his godmother, Clem, Denis discovers that in the early
1950’s Clem met Matisse and became one of his studio assistants. As she pinned up
the coloured paper shapes that formed Matisse’s celebrated cut outs, Clem dreamed
of creating her own future as an artist. Now as an old woman, she finally reveals
secrets that push Denis to change the course of his life.
Both a celebration of and depiction of the reality of the lives of three young women
Clemence, Monique and Camille who were in the orbit of Matisse in his later years. It
follows their own frustrated ambitions and adventurous decisions to live with more
freedom.
Michele Roberts is the author of 14 novels including feminist classics:
Daughters of the House, Book of Mrs Noah, The Wild Girl and The Visitation (first
published by the Women’s Press)- all of which, we have in The Feminist Library.
Cut Out , the latest By Michele Roberts sings and throbs with the diversity of its
characters, as her work has always done. Her voice resonates strongly as she cuts
to the core of living an alternative life, both back in the 1950’s and now.
It is published by independent Scottish publisher, Sandstone Press