about the author

Helen Dymond’s fascination with Handel started in the 1980s when she sang in the Handel Opera Chorus. In 1985 she supplied the research for the Channel 4 film Honour, Profit and Pleasure starring Simon Callow; and her “Handel-Lovers’ Chorus”, a comic version of the Hallelujah Chorus, was published and is still in print. In 2005 scenes from her play Handel and Susannah were performed in London, followed by her play Handel’s Feast in 2009. For forty years she was mainly occupied in teaching English and lecturing in Humanities; her final post was at the City Lit, London, teaching on Handel’s Operas and Oratorios and The Psychology of Religion.

about the book

When the sixty-five-year-old Handel’s journey through Holland is interrupted by a road accident, he is nursed back to health by a hermit and a servant girl who both have deeply troubled lives. He embarks on an inner journey, recalling musical triumphs and failures, dreaming of his past loves, facing up to his faults of character and asking himself questions: why has he chosen Britain as his home? Why does he feel compelled to compose his final oratorio, 'Jephtha', in a race against time with his encroaching blindness? His London friends realise he is missing and try to find him, led by his number one admirer, the artist Mary Delany, who passionately opposes the oppression of women and celebrates her own sexuality. Handel’s Christian faith is so badly shaken by a quarrel with the freethinking hermit that it threatens to prevent him from completing his life’s work. The novel takes us right away from the usual stereotypes of Handel as a haughty courtier or a comical foreigner, and into the mind of an intensely private and passionate man whose unique musical gifts are enjoyed more widely today than ever before.

news

BOOK TALK INVITATION AT THE KILBURN LIBRARY

I am invited by Dhurata Loku, for a book talk about my book, Finding Handel, as a ‘new local author’ at the Development Officer in the Culture Department of the Brent Library Service, Kilburn Libra ........

ILLUSTRATED BOOK TALK AT LAUDERDALE HOUSE

I shall be attending an illustrated book talk for my book, Finding Handel, at the Lauderdale House. The book talk is scheduled for 16th October 2022 at 2:30 PM. Read more about the event here.

MUSIC HISTORY BOOK CLUB TO FEATURE MY BOOK IN THEIR WINTER PROGRAMME

My book, Finding Handel will be a part of an online course at the City Lit for their winter programme of Music History Book Club. The course is starting on 12/12/22 and is using the online teach ........

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