'Moving' portrait of Bellany marriage to Sandstone

Scottish indie Sandstone Press is to publish a personal memoir by Helen Bellany of her life with the artist John Bellany.

Sandstone acquired world rights to The Restless Wave: My two lives with John Bellany, from Jenny Brown of Jenny Brown Associates.

"Candid and revealing", the story covers Helen Ballany’s early life in the highlands of Scotland to their whirlwind romance after meeting at art school in Edinburgh, John Bellany’s siege of the Royal Scottish Academy shows, their marriage and life in London, Edinburgh and Italy, and life together to the end. It also covers many of John's paintings and how they were made, including portraits of Sean Connery, Billy Connelly, and Peter Maxwell Davis, and the couple’s deep and lasting friendship with David Bowie.

Sandstone Press managing director Robert Davidson said: "The Restless Wave is a moving and affecting love story that had me enthralled from start to finish. It is also though, a commentary on how great art is made and the price it exacts. Add to this the appearance in its pages of some of the most significant characters of the past sixty years and we have one of the most important books likely to be published in 2018. I can’t wait to put it before the reading public."

Brown said: "Helen Bellany’s memoir is the one of the most life-affirming, inspiring and moving portraits of a marriage I have ever read. It recounts the adventures and heartbreak of life as the wife of one of the UK's leading painters. Helen Percy and John Bellany fell in love, shared a vision, raised a family – but demons tore them apart, only to bring them back together. It’s a spellbinding account too of the nature of creativity – and a vivid evocation of place."

The Restless Wave will be published as a "beautifully designed" jacketed hardback in April 2018.