Constance: A Novel

The Story

“Constance is an elegantly written story that evokes the soul of a poet with great poignancy and insight.” —William StyronConstance is about a writer hypnotized by the power of art and language, and about the woman who tells her story. The narrator is an editor, working at a prestigious New York house, whose youthful ideals and belief in literature have been eroded by the practicalities of the publishing world.Then she meets Constance, a writer whose poetry and haunted personality overwhelm and intrigue her. But Constance remains a mystery no matter how the editor attempts to draw her out—until a newspaper photograph exposes what the poet has been so determined to conceal.Finally, Constance reveals her story to the woman who has waited so long to hear it: a story of passion, secrets, and blinkered devotion; a story of mentors and muses and the love of a powerful man; a story that keeps Constance’s editor asking questions and searching for answers until the end.In Constance, Catherine Cantrell has created a beautifully crafted portrait of an uncompromising poet—and of the editor who tries to befriend her.