"Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa" by Benjamin Constable ~ Extraordinary Read!

SUMMARY :

What writer Benjamin Constable needs is a real-life adventure wilder than his rampant imagination. And who better to shake up his comfortable Englishman-in-Paris routine than the enigmatic Tomomi “Butterfly” Ishikawa, who has just sent a cryptic suicide note?

She’s planted a slew of clues—in the pages of her journal, on the hard drive of her computer, tucked away in public places, under flowerpots, and behind statues. Heartbroken, confused, and accompanied by an imaginary cat, Ben embarks upon a scavenger hunt leading to charming and unexpected spaces, from the hidden alleys of Paris to the cobblestone streets of New York City.

But Butterfly’s posthumous messages are surprisingly well informed for the words of a dead person, and they’re full of confessions of a past darkened by insanity, betrayal, and murder. The treasures Ben is unearthing are installments of a gruesome memoir. Now he must draw a clear line between the real and surreal if he is to save himself, Butterfly, and what remains of their crazy and amazing friendship.

ABOUT THE BOOK :

ISBN-13: 9781451667264

Publisher: Gallery Books

Publication date: 6/4/2013

Pages: 352

SOMETHING ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Benjamin Constable was born in Bristol and grew up mostly in Derby. He lives in Paris where he writes fiction and teaches English. Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa is his first novel.


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

This is an odd little book.  One of those that starts out feeling contrived and suddenly sinks its teeth in you and won't let go.  It simply "grows on  you."  I confess I didn't like it to begin with, but the more I decided to give it a chance, the more I liked it. 

The author has a way of causing his characters to become endearing as you read the quandary of Ben to find Butterfly's clues to her mysterious self and the "task" she's set him.  Ben is immediately captivating.  He's the proverbial innocent boy-next-door who needs someone to shake up his life; and, Butterfly seems the perfect, quirky girl to do just that.

What I also really loved about the book was the details about Paris...some odd little tidbits.  And I liked the glimpses into the computer and journal life of Butterfly as she led Ben on and left her "clues."  New York looked pretty awesome in this author's eyes, as well!

This isn't a book for everyone.  I'd say it's rather a quest into something unusual and a taste of something a little sweet 'n sour off the shelves.  I loved it, but it may not be for everyone's tastes. 
One of those books you have to sit back and let take you on a serendipitous trip...

4 stars                       Deborah/TheBookishDame

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Author Lisa April Smith tours "Exceeding Expectations" and Sequel with Interview!

SUMMARY :

It's 1961 and Palm Beach socialite, irresistible rascal and devoted father Jack Morgan encounters genuine danger while staging his suicide to shield his beloved daughters from scandal and disgrace. Next, meet his daughter Charlotte (Charlie), an over-indulged 23 year-old struggling to cope with the loss of her beloved father, her sister's resulting mental breakdown and the discovery that she's now penniless. Fortunately Raul, an admiring young attorney, offers assistance to the traumatized young woman, who can joke about her inadequacies. As terrified as she is about paying for her sister's costly treatment and her own daily survival, Charlie soon realizes that she must learn what drove her father to kill himself. With Raul's much needed ego-bolstering, she pursues a career that makes practical use of her lanky 5' 11" frame. Despite roadblocks and emotional upheavals, she embarks on an ocean-spanning journey that leads to a family she doesn't know, distressing truths about her father, crimes great and small, a diabolical villain and a fireworks of surprise...


Buy Exceeding Expectations the E-book at Amazon.com  or Barnes&Noble.com                                            


Buy Exceeding Expectations in Paperback at Amazon.com




FIND AN EXCERPT OF CHAPTER ONE ON THE AUTHOR'S WEBSITE HERE:

http://www.lisaaprilsmith.com





ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Lisa April Smith lives with her husband, He-who-wishes-to-remain-anonymous, in Eternal Playland, Florida, a delightful spot just off I-95. Ms. Smith describes Eternal Playland as: "a little piece of level heaven with occasional dampness, where the bugs are plentiful but respectful, and even the smallest strip mall contains at least one pizza place and a nail salon."

 Past work experience includes designing software and managing projects for IBM, selling plumbing and heating and antiques, teaching ballroom dancing and modeling. Lately, in addition to writing page-turners, this author enjoys corresponding with fans, spending time with her family, encouraging her fiercely independent orchids and rearranging antiques. (Having run out of space, Ms. Smith no longer permits herself to add to her collection.)




A BOOKISH LIBRARIA HAPPILY BRINGS YOU THIS INTERVIEW OF MS SMITH TODAY!!


So, Lisa, it's so good to have you back with us this summer for an interview about your fantastic "Exceeding Expectations" series.  I need to mention the second book of that series, "Paradise Misplaced," which just topped the whole mystery off.  I loved the story and wish you would keep it going!!  But, I know you're moving on to other exciting things.  Let's talk about you and your plans...

1. Tell us something about yourself, please.  How do most people describe you?

Lisa: Depending on how well they know me and in what context, they would describe me as a diligent (compulsive), disciplined (obsessive), eager to learn (academic geek), motivated (impatient), ordinary woman who adores her family (and can’t stop bragging about them).

 

2. Briefly, where did the idea for your novel germinate?

Lisa: My first three books began with fascinating characters I’ve read about in newspapers. I didn’t use their childhoods, physical appearances or personalities.  I’ve never met any of them. There’s was just something about their stories that sent my imagination into overdrive. I wasn’t going to do something that I’ve seen before. No naïve/good-hearted hookers, like the protagonists in Pretty Woman or Sweet Charity.      

Take Exceeding Expectations as an example. Back a few years, Floridatelevision and newspapers were reporting a story of a local Palm Beach socialite (Stephen Fagan) arrested for kidnapping his daughters eighteen years earlier, when they were 2 and 5 years old. The primary reason that it had taken eighteen years to find Fagan was that he had successfully reinvented himself. As William S. Martin, a handsome widower with two young daughters and no apparent means of support, Fagan had met and married a wealthy Palm Beach widow. After their divorce, another affluent woman agreed to wed and maintain his family’s plush lifestyle.

Neighbors, friends and the teachers at the girls’ tony  private school all described him as “likeable,” “charming” and “devoted father.” Throughout his arrest and subsequent proceedings, his loyal third wife steadfastly stood by him, as did both daughters. Perhaps what most surprised people who followed the case was that the girls’ mother, a research scientist teaching at the University of Virginia, through the media and her attorney, repeatedly begged her daughters to meet with her and they refused. To my knowledge, that continues to this day.

As I was following the case I found myself thinking that there was an even juicier story using a few core facts. A man with an invented name and history, twice married to wealthy widows, living in Palm Beach, playground of the mega-rich and famous, and involved in a crime. Two adoring daughters unaware of their true identities. Over time my imagination happily supplied the rest. A townhouse off Fifth Avenue. A sprawling estate in Virginia. Romantic Paris in the years prior to WWII. A riveting past for Jack Morgan: skilled lover, lack-luster artist and irresistible rascal. A full-blown range of challenges and hard-wrought triumphs for his traumatized daughter Charlotte (Charlie).     

 

Who first told you that you could write well, and how did it affect you?

Lisa:  One of my elementary school teachers. Probably in 5th or 6th grade. I showed her a play I had written and she insisted on my class performing it for the entire school. (A very small school.) How did that affect me? I don’t know. I think I already knew that I wrote well for a kid and not nearly as well as authors of the books I loved. I was more concerned that I was dreadful in geography. Other kids knew that Italywas in Europe and that Europewasn’t a country. I had no clue. 

 

Which contemporary authors do you most admire?

Lisa: Khaled Hosseini: favorite book, The Kite Runner

  Edward Rutherford: favorite book, Russka

  Sara Gruen: favorite book, Water for Elephants (I adore anything to do with the circus, side-shows and carnivals, but NOT Disneyland. Disneyland is too antiseptic to me).

 

Which are your favorite classical authors?

Lisa: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Marcel Proust, Guy de Maupassant – if you like pithy wry, read his short stories, and Louisa May Alcott. When I was kid I read and loved everything she wrote. I absolutely saw myself in Jo March. I was the independent tomboy who enjoyed staging plays and “scribbling.”   

 

Jump into any book which character would you be?

Lisa:  While I saw myself as Jo March, Little Women, she didn’t have the adventurous life that I dream about. I hope this doesn’t sound too egotistical, but I would like to be Charlie, at the end of Paradise Misplaced. She’s going to travel the world, hobnob with the rich, famous and infamous, be knee-deep in fabulous art, expose theft and fraud, win respect for her expertise, love passionately, be hurt many times and recover, all the while keeping a self-deprecating view of herself.

 

If you could have 5 historical people to dinner, who would they be?  What would you have to eat?

Lisa:  Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth I and Woody Allen. I could rely on Woody to ask far better questions than I could. He and Samuel Clemens would bond immediately. As for food, it would have to catered. I wouldn’t want to waste a single minute in the kitchen and I’d serve twenty courses, like a Chinese feast, so that the meal would go on for hours.    

 

Read any good books in the past 6 months?

Lisa: One comes to mind immediately - New York: The Novel, by Edward Rutherford

       

Favorite two tv shows:

Lisa:  How about three favorites? “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Fashion Star” and “Alaska: The Last Frontier.” How’s that for an eclectic range? Maybe not. The first two showcase incredibly talented creative people – dancers, choreographers and dress designers. But “Alaska: TLF” is decidedly outside the box. Life in Alaska is a contact sport. The program appeals to both my love of adventure and my admiration for the resourceful, determined, kind, intelligent people. 

 

Favorite movie of all time:

Lisa:  I adore good movies. Some plots and characters stay with me forever. I love almost every Woody Allen film that I’ve seen. “Sweet and Low Down” might be my favorite, or “Radio Days” or “Hanahh and Her Sisters.” Regrettably, I’ve missed a few. He’s done 61 to date. And I also have to include “The Man with Two Brains” a wacky hilarious movie. (After rereading this I know I should’ve chosen a serious movie (“To Kill a Mockingbird” “Gone with the Wind”) or a musical, I adore musicals (“Gigi”, “Chicago”) . . .  I’d better stop. You did ask for only one. 

    

Are you working on a new book?

Lisa:  Positively. Of course, it’s going to be my best to date. It’s an epic novel set in ancient Chinatentatively titled The Storytellers. 

 

Anything else you would like to add or share with us?

Lisa:  Thank you for asking, Deb. I’d like readers to know that Exceeding Expectationshas a sequel, Paradise Misplaced, which also received amazing reviews. 

 

 

Thanks for this witty and thoughtful interview, Lisa.  I have to go back and watch some of those old Woody Allen movies.  They are classics...  I can see that type of quick  humor in your books.

 

 

******************************************************************************

THE DAME'S REVIEW OF "EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS" :

 

Charlie, a girl in her early 20's, is just another over-indulged, wealthy daughter of Palm Beach who's major concerns are horses, parties and gossip. Then, her father commits suicide, her sister has a mental breakdown and her posh step-mother leaves them penniless. The beautiful life comes to a dead halt, and Charlie, who never even learned to wash dishes, has to get a job.

When Charlie sets out to discover why her beloved, pampering father would abandon them, knowingly leaving her sister and her without a means of support, she discovers more than she ever could image about him, herself and her abilities to "exceed expectations." She also discovers that PB society may not always get it right about love and class, when she meets and gets help from the brilliant young lawyer, Andy Garcia clone, Raul. Armed with Raul's encouragement, her own pride and tenacity, Charlie uses her only skill; modelling, to help finance herself and her sister while she travels from Palm Beach to NYC, across the US and to Paris in search of some answers.

I appreciate Lisa Smith as a seasoned author with astute writing skills after having read and reviewed her "Dangerous Lies" last year. She has a brilliance for conveying characters, and the intellectual capacity to place them in historical settings that sparkle with glamorous detail.

In fact, it's the authentic details of the time-periods that make it fun to read Lisa's book as it skips from Charlie's current days of the late 1950's and early '60's to the past Palm Beach and Manhattan, with hints of Sister Parish's posh interior designs, famous museums and artists, the fashions of different eras, vintage cars and high society parties. Her historical and fictitious characters work in sync as they are perfectly set in these time frames, and midst the transitory madness of WWs I and II Paris.

Lisa Smith's writing isn't over-blown with emotion and sappy romance; rather, it is sophisticated and subtle. It's witty, fun and sassy. There's love of family; and, there are affairs of the heart, pain and anxieties that accompany romantic relationships in difficult times, intrigue and madness. I loved this kettle of mystery and suspense that dominates her characters.

I'm a fan of Ms Smith's. I love a good story with interesting characters, a mystery and a romance that's not over-the-top but that rests securely in reality. I like foreign intrigue and the sophistication of art and society. Most of all, I so appreciate an intelligent author of worldly experience! If you do, too, you'll love "Exceeding Expectations." This book has a sequel which I'm dying to read!

5 soaring stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

       

Please follow this link to find my full review of this book last year on A Bookish Libraria: 
http://abookishlibraria.blogspot.com/2012/09/paradise-misplaced-by-lisa-april-smith.html

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"Black Venus" by James MacManus~Baudelaire in Love

SUMMARY :

A vivid novel of Charles Baudelaire and his lover Jeanne Duval, the Haitian cabaret singer who inspired his most famous and controversial poems, set in nineteenth-century Paris.

For readers who have been drawn to The Paris Wife, Black Venus captures the artistic scene in the great French city decades earlier, when the likes of Dumas and Balzac argued literature in the cafes of the Left Bank. Among the bohemians, the young Charles Baudelaire stood out—dressed impeccably thanks to an inheritance that was quickly vanishing. Still at work on the poems that he hoped would make his name, he spent his nights enjoying the alcohol, opium, and women who filled the seedy streets of the city.

One woman would catch his eye—a beautiful Haitian cabaret singer named Jeanne Duval. Their lives would remain forever intertwined thereafter, and their romance would inspire his most infamous poems—leading to the banning of his masterwork, Les Fleurs du Mal, and a scandalous public trial for obscenity.

James MacManus's Black Venus re-creates the classic Parisian literary world in vivid detail, complete with not just an affecting portrait of the famous poet but also his often misunderstood, much-maligned muse.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press
Pages:  352
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Author:  James MacManus
Find out more on his website:  James MacManus


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

James MacManus was born in London in 1943, educated at Westminster School and graduated from St Andrews University in 1966.He broke his Guardian reading parents’ hearts when he joined the Daily Express in Manchester as a trainee reporter that year. He redeemed himself when he moved to The Guardian in 1972, working first as a reporter in the London office and then as a foreign correspondent in France, Africa and the Middle East for twelve years. The bulk of this time was spent in what was then Rhodesia where he was based as the Guardian’s Africa correspondent from 1974-80. In 1985 he joined the Diplomatic staff of the Daily Telegraph in London. He joined the Times in November 1992 as Assistant Editor (Home) and took over as Managing Editor of The Times in September 1996. He became Managing Director of The Times Supplements in April 1997, a company that published the Times Educational Supplement, the Times Higher Education Supplement and the Times Literary Supplement (TLS). Following heart surgery in 2009 James relinquished many of his Corporate Affairs duties to concentrate on speech writing and managing the TLS. In 2006 after a gestation of almost 20 years a film script James had written finally made it to the screen under the title The Children of Huang Shi. The film takes place at the height of the Sino-Japanese war in the 1940s and tells the story of 65 Chinese school children who were recued from certain death by George Hogg, a young Englishman who had been caught up in the conflict. To escape the advancing Japanese forces in the bitter winter of 1944 Hogg took the children in a convoy of mule carts over the highest mountains in China to Shandan in the remote North West. There he died in 1945 of tetanus aged 30. MacManus heard about Hogg’s brief and heroic life while working in Beijing as a reporter in 1985 and his subsequent news story in a London paper attracted the attention of Hollywood. The film starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and directed by Roger Spottiswoode was released in 2006. James MacManus has also written a book about Hogg’s life called ‘Ocean Devil’ which was published in March 2008. In 2010 James’s first novel was published by Harper Collins in |London. On the Broken Shore won critical acclaim and is to be published by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St Martins Press in New York. The book will be re-titled the Language of the Sea. Thomas Dunne is a senior and widely respected publisher in the US and he said of On The Broken Shore: "What an odd, brilliant, shocking, moving, clever, perceptive book." James MacManus has been married twice and has three children. He is currently separated from his second wife. MR. MACMANUS DISCUSSES BAUDELAIRE : "Charles Baudelaire wrote the finest poetry in the French language, the first modern poetry in any language and helped shape the literature of the 21st century. His reputation rests on a slim volume of poems Les Fleurs du Mal several of which were banned after an obscenity trial. For most of his adult life he lived with, and was obsessed by, a woman to whom he dedicated his poetry, who inspired his every artistic endeavour and who was loathed by his family, friends and his publisher. He called her his Black Venus. Jeanne Duval was a striking Creole from Haiti, with a voluptuous figure, an addiction to alcohol and opium and, being barely literate, scant regard for her lover's poetry. Although Baudelaire's muse and mistress, she took her own lovers and became infamous in a decidedly decadent society. As a result rising artists such as Manet and indeed Baudelaire himself, painted her portrait. This book tells the true story of a relationship that puzzled Paris society in the mid 19th century has pre-occupied critics ever since: What secret lay at the heart of Charles Baudelaire's obsessive love for a muse that destroyed him.? Jeanne Duval betrayed Baudelaire in every way. Her extravagance drove him into debt, she turned him into an opium addict and slept with his friends. Yet without her he could not write a word. Towards the end of his life Baudelaire said :"I only have had only two responsibilities in my life. To my art and to my Black Venus."" James MacManus

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

This is one of those books I was dying to love. Baudelaire is my favorite French poet. I adore his poems, his intensity, his ardent way of expressing life and love. I was hoping for so much in this story of his muse, Jeanne Duval. Sadly, it was only a lukewarm representation of what must have been a very hot obsession. I was disappointed from the get-go.
 

While details of their lives, surroundings and relationship were set within the novel at the correct times and places, it was such that I felt I was reading a text book that had been "fancied up;" or made more palatable with warm icing. The book lacked heart and real substance. It felt flat. The characters were not well-defined or alive. While I wanted to care about them, I found I couldn't. They were without life and too devoid of definition to become captivating. Both Baudelaire and Jeanne Duval were not at all as charming as one would hope.
 

The surroundings and descriptive details that might have made Paris come alive were weak. There was very little atmosphere. I never really got a sense of place although the characters went to some exotic locations that would have been fun to have experienced vicariously! It felt as if the author was so stuck in detailing the history, he lacked imagination.
 

As far as a historical perspective of Baudelaire and his beautiful, irreverent muse Jeanne Duval goes, this is a book that did answer some questions about their relationship and what drove his genius and madness. It was a book that filled in the gaps on what their lives might have been like and how society might have reacted to them as a couple. The research seemed strong, in essence.
 

What disappointed was that it was not a captivating work of historical fiction. It did not flow in story form. There was a lack of description on all counts. The characters, as I've said, were virtually one dimensional. Dialog was stilted. And, the book on whole was not compelling or exciting.

 

 

Beautiful cover, fantastic idea...but no follow through on this one. A missed opportunity... I'm sad.
 

3 stars for a fair story Deborah/TheBookishDame

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"The House I Loved" by Tatiana de Rosnay~Romance of Paris 1800's

SUMMARY :

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sarah’s Key and A Secret Kept comes an absorbing new novel about one woman’s resistance during an époque that shook Paris to its very core.

Paris, France: 1860’s. Hundreds of houses are being razed, whole neighborhoods reduced to ashes. By order of Emperor Napoleon III, Baron Haussman has set into motion a series of large-scale renovations that will permanently alter the face of old Paris, moulding it into a “modern city.” The reforms will erase generations of history—but in the midst of the tumult, one woman will take a stand.

Rose Bazelet is determined to fight against the destruction of her family home until the very end; as others flee, she stakes her claim in the basement of the old house on rue Childebert, ignoring the sounds of change that come closer and closer each day. Attempting to overcome the loneliness of her daily life, she begins to write letters to Armand, her beloved late husband. And as she delves into the ritual of remembering, Rose is forced to come to terms with a secret that has been buried deep in her heart for thirty years. Tatiana de Rosnay's The House I Loved is both a poignant story of one woman’s indelible strength, and an ode to Paris, where houses harbor the joys and sorrows of their inhabitants, and secrets endure in the very walls...

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  St. Martin's Press
Pages:  256
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Author  Tatiana de Rosnay
Website:  http://www.tatianaderosnay.com
Purchase book here:  Amazon


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 

In French:

 

Tatiana de Rosnay est née le 28 septembre 1961, à Neuilly-sur-Seine. Balance ascendant Scorpion. Elle se décrit comme étant "franglaise". Elle a été élevée à Boston et à Paris. Son père est français d'origine russe, sa mère, anglaise. Tatiana a écrit son premier roman dans sa langue maternelle, l’anglais, à l'âge de 11 ans, sur un cahier Clairefontaine. Après des études littéraires en Angleterre, à l’université de East Anglia, Tatiana a travaillé à Paris comme journaliste, pour Vanity Fair, Psychologies, ELLE et le JDD. Elle a publié son premier roman, L'Appartement témoin, en 1992. Depuis, elle a publié onze romans en France, dont Elle s'appelait Sarah, vendu à neuf millions d'exemplaires dans le monde. Tatiana aime le bleu turquoise, les voyages, le rire, les figuiers, Mozart, Emile Zola, Virginia Woolf et la musique disco. Sa romancière préférée est Daphné du Maurier. Elle vit à Paris avec sa famille.

In translation I take most of this to mean~  She grew up in Boston and in Paris.  Her father is french, but orginally from Russia and her mother is English. After she studied literature at a university she was stationed in Paris where she became a journalist for Vanity Fair, Psychologies, Elle...  Tatiana loves turquoise blue, travel, Mozart, the authors Emile Zola and Virginia Woolf, and disco music.  For romance fiction she prefers Daphne du Maurier.  She currently lives in Paris with her family.   (This is as far as my very weak French takes us...)


BOOK TRAILER :

THE DAME'S REVIEW :

There's hardly anything more romantic than a story about an old house and the woman who clings to her past loves within it.  This book was written for the likes of me.  The setting of Paris is one that immediately puts me in a frame of mind to nestle down and read, and the time frame of the 1800's just seals the deal.  I'm not a hard sell when it comes to all these elements in a book.

Tatiana de Rosnay is an author who knows how to develop atmosphere and characters.  The house itself comes alive from the pages and envelops not only the main characters, but also the reader.  I could sense the walls breathing with memories just as I could hear the voice of Rose reliving them through her letters and notes to her dead husband. I wanted to walk the halls and hide in the basement with Rose.  Wanted to protect the old house along with her.  My heart ached to save its precious walls and parts that had encased the family over the many years.  It seemed like a bed that held a jewel.

Ms de Rosnay so developed the character of Rose that at times I felt she was real.  She is a very sympathetic character.  I fell in love with her gentleness as well as her determination despite all odds to save not only her house/home, but her way of life and her memories.  It was engrossing to walk her life story with her, and to meet the other people in her life who not only played major parts in supporting her, but who loved her in different ways...or resented her. 

This is a beautifully descriptive novel with a wonderful story to tell about family, friends and lost dreams.  I highly recommend it to those who love Paris and everything about it along with its history; but also to those who love a story about women of substance.  Rose is a woman of strength and committed love.  Hers is a beautiful story told by a generous and worthy author.

5 stars               Deborah/TheBookishDame



 

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"The Painted Girls" by Cathy Marie Buchanan

 

SUMMARY :

A heartrending, gripping novel about two sisters in Belle Époque Paris.

1878 Paris. Following their father’s sudden death, the van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opéra, where for a scant seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir.

Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modeling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. There she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde. 

Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.” In the end, each will come to realize that her salvation, if not survival, lies with the other.

 

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Riverhead Books

Pages:  349

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Read more:  Author's Website

Purchase this book:  Barnes & Noble

 

A BIT ABOUT THE AUTHOR : 

 

 

CATHY MARIE BUCHANAN is the author of The Painted Girls and The Day the Falls Stood Still. Published January 2013, The Painted Girls has received enthusiastic reviews (Kirkus, The Globe and Mail, the National Post, The Washington Post) and is a People Magazine Pick, a Good Housekeeping Book Pick, an Indie Next pick, a USA Today New and Notable selection, a Barnes & Noble Staff Pick, an Entertainment Weekly Must List pick, a Vogue Books People Are Talking About selection, a Chatelaine Book Club pick and a national bestseller in Canada. The Day the Falls Stood Still, her dedut novel, was a New York Times bestseller, a Barnes & Noble Recommends selection, and an IndieNext pick.

Her stories have appeared in many of Canada’s most respected literary journals, and she has received awards from both the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council. She holds a BSc (Honours Biochemistry) and an MBA from Western University. Born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario, she now resides in Toronto.

Connect with Cathy Marie on Facebook or Twitter.


THE DAME'S REVIEW :

I have to admit that this is one of those books I fell in love with the cover first.  I'm an art history major, and I was drawn to the Degas ballet dancers on the cover.  Once I had it in my hands, it was hard to resist the feel of it, too. It has that soft, velvety skin to it that they're putting on books these days.  It's a vivid and gorgeous book.  Then, the back cover and the summary caught me.  You've no doubt read it above...I hope.  This is all together a delicious book.

Cathy Marie Buchanan became a favorite of mine when I read her debut novel, "The Day the Falls Stood Still."  I'm not sure I know how to tell you what's different about her writing.  It just is.  Her voice is matter of fact and easy.  It was that element in her first book that made it so poignant and powerful to me, and it felt the same in this book.  While she tells us a human story, it's as if she's sitting down across the living room from us and telling it with all seriousness.  It makes for a beautiful manner; although, it's not light-hearted.

Without apologies the focus of her book is her characters, and there's nothing more powerful than a truly character driven novel.  There are actually three sisters in the book, although two sisters alternate telling their viewpoints in the story.  Marie, the younger sister, is wise and worldly beyond her years and is the model and focus of Edgar Degas and his art work The Little Dancer.  She personifies the struggles of the poor in the late 1800's in Paris, along with her older sister, Antoinette, who is no longer wanted by the Ballet and reduced to a washerwoman and lover of a criminal. 

What's interesting is that Buchanan has used the actual people to carve her story.  These people actually existed and she's created a story to encompass their circumstances.  Here is the old-world, almost journalistic bent to her writing style.  I was caught up in the horrific life-style of the sisters and their mother...the starvation and deprivation, the struggles to get ahead, the temptations of the easy way out, and the hopefulness of love even though found in the wrong places. 

The novel is a set piece continuing the light shone by Emile Zola on the human experience in his novels and play; as well as famous criminology, and the part anatomical features played in recognizing murderers in that age.  It's just fascinating as Ms Buchanan puts the story together, although it sometimes weighed more on the history than the novel side.

So, I suppose in summary I need to say that one mustn't be fooled by this book's cover!  While it is beautiful and soft, depicting graceful and limber dancers...it is solid and strange within.  It's a strong and interesting book.  The story is all the better for having been based on truth.

This is the darker side of Paris in the 1800's.  It's a mysterious side.  A glimpse behind the Opera curtain, into the art studio of a master, inside a brothel, and within the walls of a prison....  Come see!

4 stars                 Deborah/TheBookishDame

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"Kiki Strike: The Darkness Dwellers" by Kirsten Miller~Interview!

 

 

SUMMARY :

 

When Kiki Strike flies off to Paris to try to stop her evil cousin, the princess Sidonia, from all sorts of terrible deeds, it's up to Ananka and the other irregulars to help Kiki find the cure for baldness, stop Oona's nasty twin from ripping off all the merchants in New York City, and keep Ananka herself from falling in love with exactly the wrong young man. Through the streets of New York, and all over the top and bottom of Paris, nothing stands in the way of these butt-kicking, fearless, and brilliant girls.

 

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

 

Published by:  Bloomsbury

Pages:  416

Author:  Kirsten Miller

Purchase the book:  Amazon

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 

KIRSTEN MILLER lives with her family in New York City where she spends her time drinking coffee, exploring the city, and writing.

 

 

INTERVIEW WITH KIRSTEN :

 

Hi, Kirsten!  Thank you for coming onboard today for this interview.  I'm excited to get to know you better.  Your "Kiki" series is very strange and awesome (in a fantastic way!) and I'm looking forward to your fans knowing more about you, too.  So here we go:

 

 

First of all, please tell us a special something about what makes you “tick.”  When you aren’t writing, what are you doing?

 

Making weird stuff. I’m kind of a Gothic, less talented Martha Stewart. There’s nothing I love more than assembling a “cabinet of curiosities” to display little things I’ve collected over the years. (Bugs in resin, attractive bones, strange shells, anatomical figurines, etc.) I’m also very proud of a shadowbox I recently built, which shows a giant stag beetle baking a cake in a miniature kitchen. You get the idea.

 

The bizzare and the beautiful.  That doesn't surprise me!  :]

 

We’re always curious about where a writer chooses to write.  Could you tell us about your favorite place to write?  Describe it in detail…what’s on your desk, what do you see from the window if any…do you have a favorite lucky charm?

 

I write at my desk. In my office. In my house. In Brooklyn.

 

My desk is rather messy at the moment. (Which is unusual. I’m a notorious neat freak.) There are several stacks of books that I need to read—as well as books I just like to have around. (Example: Gorey’s Gashlycrumb Tinies.) A guide to rooftop gardening. My computer. Lots of Post-Its with scribbled ideas for my latest project.

 

Right in front of me is a bulletin board covered with maps, pictures of my daughter (who’s the spitting image of Iris McLeod), and Kiki Strike-inspired art that’s been sent to me by Kiki fans. (There’s absolutely nothing more flattering than knowing you’ve inspired someone else’s art.)

 

Bronte or Austen?  Hemingway or Hawthorne?  Why?

 

I’m a big fan of all four authors. But if I had to choose . . . Bronte and Hawthorne. I love Gothic literature, with its damaged heroes, family curses and haunted houses. My daydreams are often set on “the moors.” And they often involve Mr. Rochester.

 

You and I are soul sisters, Kirsten!!!  Yay!!!

 

In your opinion, what makes a book a great one?

 

I would have offered a very different answer to this question a few years back. But today, I’d say a great book is one that has the ability to hold my interest for more than 25 pages. I simply don’t have the patience for books that aren’t entertaining. (Fortunately, there’s a very long list of subjects I find entertaining.)

 

Which author(s) most influenced your love of books? 

 

As a kid? Edgar Eager and Stephen King.

As an adult? Michael Chabon and Edgar Eager.

 

 

Read any good books in the past 6 months?

 

I’ve read quite a few. But I’m staring at a copy of Wicked Plants, which I picked up at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It kept me quite entertained for a few days!

 

 

Choose 4 guests from any era for dinner.  Who would they be and what would you choose for a topic of conversation?

 

I have some rather interesting ancestors with whom I’d love to spend time . . .

 

A gentleman who was kicked out of Plymouth Plantation for having “novel ideas.”

One of the women who was executed for witchcraft at Salem.

A man who was adopted by the unbelievably cool Amelia Bloomer.

Either of my grandfathers (who died when I was little). 

 

Topic of Conversation: Scurrilous Family Gossip.

 

 

Well, the top two were probably my relatives...We could meet for dinner as a substitute!  :]

 

 

There’s a song that goes along with your book, what is it?

 

Well, I have TWO books coming out in January/February.

 

Kiki #3, The Darkness Dwellers: A update of Maurice Chevalier’s “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” in which a bunch of little girls let the singer know exactly what they think of creepy old me.  

 

How to Lead a Life of Crime: Mark Ronson’s “Bang, Bang, Bang” and Foster the “People’s Pumped Up Kicks”

 

 

If you could cast your book for a movie, who would you choose for your 2 main characters?

 

If there’s ever a Kiki Strike movie made, I think it would be wonderful if the people in charge chose unknowns for the job. (The way Harry Potter was cast.)

 

 

Worst habit you have while writing?

 

Pushing myself too hard. I often work until I’m totally burnt out.

 

 

How much research did you do before and during writing this book?

 

I almost never do any research immediately before writing my books—because I always write about subjects (reincarnation, secret societies, man-eating rats) that have interested me for years.

 

The Darkness Dwellers is partially set in Paris—and most of the action takes place in the catacombs beneath the city. I did almost all of my “research” in 2006 when I lived in Paris. I actually visited the bone-filled catacombs by myself one day. It was probably one of the creepiest experiences of my entire life.

 

 

Psychologists tell us the thing we think we’d most like to grow up to be when we’re ten years old is our avocation.  What did you want to be?

 

An archaeologist or paleontologist. (Or anything that involved “detective work.”)    

 

Hmmm  Very close, Kirsten.   

 

Well, thank you for your visit.  You're decidedly awesome as your books!

 

 

 

 

As for the rest of you, please go directly to a book store and get a copy of one of Kirsten's books.  Preferably this new one:  "Kiki Strike: The Darkness Dwellers."  You'll love all of them.

 

Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

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