On France's golden Riviera, the wife of an artist gives him an ultimatum: her or me. The dazzling new novel from Sophie Haydock, author of The Flames 'Deliciously immersive . . . Think of [Haydock] as the art world’s answer to Philippa Gregory . . . I took Madame Matisse on a wet, grey holiday and it swept me into a world of startling, splashy colour' The Spectator '[A] sizzling story of the art world, where sidelined women take centre stage. It’s an immersive tale of muses, betrayal, sex and bad behaviour' Daily Mail This is the story of three women - one an orphan and refugee who finds a place in the studio of a famous French artist, the other a wife and mother who has stood by her husband for nearly forty years. The third is his daughter, caught in the crossfire between her mother and a father she adores. Amelie is first drawn to Henri Matisse as a way of escaping the conventional life expected of her. A free spirit, she sees in this budding young artist a glorious future for them