A Gift of Sunlight - The Fortune and Quest of the Davies Sisters of Llandinam

A moving human story of love and courage, the first full telling of an extraordinary family saga. Shy and fabulously wealthy, the Davies sisters of Llandinam pluckily went to war, poured their fortune into charity and famously created for their country a magical trove of paintings, a joy for ever. Gwendoline and Margaret Davies believed that beauty had a power to do good. The art collection they bequeathed to the Welsh nation embodies this belief, and it is thanks to their generosity that National Museum Wales now houses the work of names such as Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Renoir and Rodin. They were the granddaughters of the great industrialist and philanthropist David Davies of Llandinam, but for all their fortune and privilege, they lived lives honed by shyness and  self-denial, and haunted by love. Yet they adventured and pioneered: a medal salutes their Red Cross service in the Great War inFrance, for instance. This is the first book dedicated solely to the lives of the Davies sisters, illustrated by photographs from the family archive, and by over 50 pictures showcasing the glories of their collection, their ‘gift of sunlight’.