A girl braiding her hair

Life has dealt Ellie a tough hand. She lost her parents as a child, was widowed at twenty-nine, and has just been made redundant. Without her husband, she can no longer afford the mortgage on their dream home on the outskirts of Philadelphia, so now she watches from an emergency flat opposite as her former home is renovated and prepared for sale. A lifeline appears when she encounters the work of the once-famous Parisian painter Suzanne Valadon, whose paintings are now stored in the depths of museum archives. Will Ellie be able to overcome the failings of historical memory and return them to the exhibition halls?

Suzanne, born Marie-Clémentine, grew up in 1870s Montmartre as the illegitimate daughter of a laundress. Despite this, she has many creative dreams and pursues them despite all obstacles and setbacks.
She sits as a model for famous artists, including Morisot, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec, and is a celebrated beauty – but that isn't enough for her. When she takes up charcoal and later the paintbrush, she becomes not only one of the few female painters at a time when women were not allowed to study at the academy, but also a pioneer in depicting everyday scenes from domestic life.

Her talent and courage inspire Ellie. Although she has no experience, no suitable venue, and no capital, she pursues her dream just as stubbornly as Valadon once did. And so, much like in her novel The Secret Life of Sunflowers, Marta Molnar opens an imaginary dialogue between two heroines, determined not to give up even when life has knocked them down. Across a gap of more than a century, the two women pass on the message that although everything sometimes hangs by a thread, even threads can be woven into a strong braid.