Elizabeth Ross (1)

Satisfying and very well crafted historical mystery. Clara/Klara fled Nazi Germany with her parents in 1938. Now that the war is over, she's about to be promoted at the movie studio where she works when her parents announce they're about to return to Germany so her dad can take a professorship. Clara is devastated and angry at their obliviousness to her newly established life, complete with a budding friendship, and maybe more with Gil, a recently returned war veteran who is employed as a screen writer at the studio.
When Clara stays late one evening and sees blonde hair caught in a film vault door, it's the beginning of an intricate murder mystery that involves plenty of historical detail, many red herrings and a dandy climax at the end. It's a great choice for libraries where teens, and adults enjoy history and mystery blended together.… (plus d'informations)

This was a wonderful scenario and character set that never quite came together with the intricacy it promised, but that was nevertheless a very enjoyable read. I was absolutely delighted with the first half, where our narrator gets mired in all sorts of trouble through a mix of all-too-understandable motivations and wonderfully outrageous situations. The resolutions of those troubles were a little too glib and underbaked for my tastes, but it's still a pretty charming look at modernity, at the self-image of girls, at expectations and dreams. Good fun.… (plus d'informations)

How would you like to be considered ugly? If you were poor, single, in a Huge City & in need a good paying job; would you accept employment based on what others perceive based on your looks?

That is the basis of this book: working in Paris as a Repoussoir, a plain companion that makes the woman who has employed her appear by comparison much fairer than she actually is.

Maude Pinchon has run away from a small town, where her father was planning to marry her to the local butcher.

As a Repoussoir to Isabelle, a local heiress whose mother is planning for Isabelle's marriage; Maude turns out to be more of a friend to Isabelle, who as it turns out has no intention of getting married, but plans instead to study science at the Sorbonne.

When it all comes crashing down around both women, both Isabelle & Maude team up to show the aristocracy for what it is....

I liked the story, I liked the characters... The women were strong, the men, meh, not-so-much! I liked that beauty bloomed no matter the looks of the girls and there was heart underneath the dejection.

What made this book make more of an impression on me was Maude's interest in photography & her thoughts, which mirror my own: "Using the camera as my tool, I hope to find that elusive inner light in the subjects that I photograph, both people & places, and to really see - see the truth and beauty of an instant.... With photography, as with any art, you are given the gift of connection, when you can say to a stranger: 'Look! I have something to tell you, I have something to say.'"… (plus d'informations)

When Maude leaves her home in the countryside of France, she heads to Paris. The only work she is able to find is to work as a “repoussoir”, or as a sort of “foil” to a pretty girl. That is, Maude is the ugly or plain girl who is hired to accompany a debutante to one or more events in order to make the debutante look better by comparison. Maude is hired by the Isabelle’s mother, but Isabelle doesn’t know that that’s why Maude is there. They become friends and Maude wants to help Isabelle in the things she wants, but she is forced to help Isabelle’s mother encourage Isabelle to marry, as that is her job.

I really liked this. I was wondering if it was based on a real agency that hired out girls for this purpose, so I was looking forward to the author’s note at the end (it was based on a fictional agency in a short story). It was also set during the time the Eiffel Tower was being built, which is interesting. The book has some strong girl characters.… (plus d'informations)