Pixie
1st Edition
Published on 12. March 2026
400 pages
978-1-5266-7110-3 (ISBN)
Description
'A work of genius ... a profoundly feminist book' Louise Doughty
'A funny, feminist bildungsroman ... will see her scoop up any Sarah Waters fans who haven't already discovered her' Patrick Gale
'It's thrilling to live with this book' Monique Roffey
"Pixie". I like it. "Pixie Pamela". It's a good name for me: sometimes tiny and invisible. Other times bouncing up to the ceiling to look down on everyone.
It's the turn of the twentieth century and Pamela 'Pixie' Colman Smith is a young woman of stark contradictions: plucky yet naïve, artistically gifted despite lacking classical training, fascinated by the esoteric but sceptical of the world around her.
After the deaths of her beloved mother and her troubled but well-intentioned father, Pixie finds herself in the complex, political world of fin-de-siècle art, trying to get her stunning work seen and to forge a name and a path for herself in life. Across Jamaica, Devon, London and Brooklyn, Pixie is a novel of epic proportions, a tale of the twists and turns, séances and secrets, successes and devastation, of one young woman's talent, grit and determination.
In Pixie, Jill Dawson renders the real-life figure of Pamela 'Pixie' Colman Smith, artist, publisher and illustrator of the still-iconic Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, in arrestingly vivid detail, breathing life into a story that is instantly knowable, but has, until now, eluded popular imagination.
'A rich and marvellous story' Sadie Jones
'A truly bold and vigorous and immersive writer' Christobel Kent
'A funny, feminist bildungsroman ... will see her scoop up any Sarah Waters fans who haven't already discovered her' Patrick Gale
'It's thrilling to live with this book' Monique Roffey
"Pixie". I like it. "Pixie Pamela". It's a good name for me: sometimes tiny and invisible. Other times bouncing up to the ceiling to look down on everyone.
It's the turn of the twentieth century and Pamela 'Pixie' Colman Smith is a young woman of stark contradictions: plucky yet naïve, artistically gifted despite lacking classical training, fascinated by the esoteric but sceptical of the world around her.
After the deaths of her beloved mother and her troubled but well-intentioned father, Pixie finds herself in the complex, political world of fin-de-siècle art, trying to get her stunning work seen and to forge a name and a path for herself in life. Across Jamaica, Devon, London and Brooklyn, Pixie is a novel of epic proportions, a tale of the twists and turns, séances and secrets, successes and devastation, of one young woman's talent, grit and determination.
In Pixie, Jill Dawson renders the real-life figure of Pamela 'Pixie' Colman Smith, artist, publisher and illustrator of the still-iconic Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, in arrestingly vivid detail, breathing life into a story that is instantly knowable, but has, until now, eluded popular imagination.
'A rich and marvellous story' Sadie Jones
'A truly bold and vigorous and immersive writer' Christobel Kent
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
ISBN-13
978-1-5266-7110-3 (9781526671103)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Jill Dawson is the author of eleven novels and one poetry collection, and is the editor of six anthologies of poetry and stories. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, has been a Costa Judge and has taught creative writing in many different settings. She lives in Cambridgeshire.
