When Eva Gouel moves to Paris from the countryside, she is full of ambition and dreams of stardom. Though young and inexperienced, she manages to find work as a costumer at the famous Moulin Rouge, and it is here that she first catches the attention of Pablo Picasso, a rising star in the art world.
A brilliant but eccentric artist, Picasso sets his sights on Eva, and Eva can't help but be drawn into his web. But what starts as a torrid affair soon evolves into what will become the first great love of Picasso's life.
With sparkling insight and passion, Madame Picasso introduces us to a dazzling heroine, taking us from the salon of Gertrude Stein to the glamorous Moulin Rouge and inside the studio and heart of one of the most enigmatic and iconic artists of the twentieth century.
In 1937, young Lisette Roux and her husband, André, move from Paris to a village in Provence to care for André’s grandfather Pascal. Lisette regrets having to give up her dream of becoming a gallery apprentice and longs for the comforts and sophistication of Paris. But as she soon discovers, the hilltop town is rich with unexpected pleasures.
Pascal once worked in the nearby ochre mines and later became a pigment salesman and frame maker; while selling his pigments in Paris, he befriended Pissarro and Cézanne, some of whose paintings he received in trade for his frames. Pascal begins to tutor Lisette in both art and life, allowing her to see his small collection of paintings and the Provençal landscape itself in a new light. Inspired by Pascal’s advice to “Do the important things first,” Lisette begins a list of vows to herself (#4. Learn what makes a painting great). When war breaks out, André goes off to the front, but not before hiding Pascal’s paintings to keep them from the Nazis’ reach.
With German forces spreading across Europe, the sudden fall of Paris, and the rise of Vichy France, Lisette sets out to locate the paintings (#11. Find the paintings in my lifetime). Her search takes her through the stunning French countryside, where she befriends Marc and Bella Chagall, who are in hiding before their flight to America, and acquaints her with the land, her neighbors, and even herself in ways she never dreamed possible. Through joy and tragedy, occupation and liberation, small acts of kindness and great acts of courage, Lisette learns to forgive the past, to live robustly, and to love again.
Also, I am very excited to bring a review of the most anticipated novel by Sherry Jones to be published on October 7, 2014 in the U.S. and on December 1, 2014 in the U.K.
The first retelling of the passionate, twelfth-century love story since
the discovery of 113 lost love letters between Heloise d’Argenteuil and
Pierre Abelard—the original Romeo and Juliet.
He was the most famous philosopher in the world, a headmaster and a poet whose dashing good looks would make any woman swoon. She was Paris’s most brilliant young scholar, beautiful and wry, and his student. Forbidden by the church and society to love each other, these enchanting lovers defied all the rules to follow their own hearts and risk everything that mattered to them, including each other. An illicit child, a secret marriage, a vengeful uncle: nothing can come between them—until a vicious attack tears them apart forever…or does it?
Incorporating original text from their achingly beautiful love letters, this is the tale of Heloise and Abelard, whose love affair, like that of Romeo and Juliet, and Antony and Cleopatra, has become one of the greatest stories of all time. The Sharp Hook of Love is an imaginative, intimate, and erotic portrayal of the star-crossed lovers whose tale of passion and tragedy still touches hearts today.
He was the most famous philosopher in the world, a headmaster and a poet whose dashing good looks would make any woman swoon. She was Paris’s most brilliant young scholar, beautiful and wry, and his student. Forbidden by the church and society to love each other, these enchanting lovers defied all the rules to follow their own hearts and risk everything that mattered to them, including each other. An illicit child, a secret marriage, a vengeful uncle: nothing can come between them—until a vicious attack tears them apart forever…or does it?
Incorporating original text from their achingly beautiful love letters, this is the tale of Heloise and Abelard, whose love affair, like that of Romeo and Juliet, and Antony and Cleopatra, has become one of the greatest stories of all time. The Sharp Hook of Love is an imaginative, intimate, and erotic portrayal of the star-crossed lovers whose tale of passion and tragedy still touches hearts today.
Thank you Gallery Books and Simon and Schuster for the review copies.
2 comments:
I would like to read the Vreeland book because of its setting. The more I read about France in the early years of WW2, Vichy, occupied Paris, the Ritz, art thefts etc, the more I want to know.
Hi Hels,
I really loved Susan Vreeland's book, 'Clara and Mr. Tiffany', so this one should be wonderful. If you want early WW2, occupied Paris, I can highly recommend Citadel by Kate Mosse, if you haven't read it yet. Just fabulous! Very evocative and emotional.
I'm so glad you stopped by. Thanks so much for commenting and please let me know what you think of Lisette's List if you read it :)
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