The Buzz...About Books

Through the Loan Stars program, I read the recently published novel To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin. It is one of several novels that I have come across in the last little while set in Paris during the period of The Belle Époque. The period of French history from the Franco-Prussian War to World War One is often called The Belle Époque. It was a time of rapid technological and social change and included many important events, such as the building of the Eiffel Tower and the rise of the Impressionist movement in art. This important and fascinating period of history has been an inspiration for many authors. 

In February 1887, Caitriona Wallace and Emile Nouguier meet while taking a hot air balloon ride in Paris. Caitriona is an impoverished Scottish widow, who is working as a chaperone for the wealthy Arrol siblings, Alice and Jamie. Emile Nouguier is an engineer working on Gustave Eiffel's Tower. Emile is also dealing with significant pressure from his mother to marry someone who can help improve his family's financial situation. Although Alice Arrol would be a suitable match, Emile cannot help being drawn to Caitriona. As their attraction grows, both Cait and Emile are torn between passion and honour. 

Gustave Eiffel and his Tower are also a significant part of this story, as Eiffel is Emile's employer and mentor. The iconic Tower was both an engineering marvel and a very controversial subject at the time.  
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Here are a few other novels set during The Belle Époque:  

Girl in the Afternoon: A Novel of Paris by Serena Burdick 
The Savarays are important members of the art world and supporters of the Impressionist movement. Living a life of luxury, surrounded by their friends and fellow artists, their lives change dramatically when their beloved adopted son Henri, a burgeoning artist himself, disappears early one morning. His sister, Aimee Savaray, seeks consolation from this loss by pursuing her own art. Years later, while she is mentored by Edouard Manet, she unwittingly finds Henri again. After so many years, their eventual reunion reveal the secrets that once held the family together.
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I Always Loved You: A Story of Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas by Robin Oliveira
After the end of the Civil War in the United States, the young Mary Cassatt moved to Paris to become an artist. While she never thought it was going to be easy, even her fierce determination wavers when her submission to the Paris Salon is rejected. With her father begging her to return to Philadelphia, Mary begins to doubt her talent and her future in Paris. Then a friend introduces her to Edgar Degas and her life is changed forever.   
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An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris
This fascinating novel was inspired by the events of the Dreyfus Affair, a scandal that engulfed Europe in the late 19th century. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer, is convicted of treason and sentenced to a lifetime of hard labour on Devil's Island off the coast of South America. Colonel Georges Picquart, ordered to investigate the case on behalf of the French military's new counter-espionage force, uncovers evidence of anti-Semitism and a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of government. 
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The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Following their father's sudden death, Marie and Antoinette van Goethem find their lives drastically changed. Marie is sent to the Paris Opéra, where is trained to enter the famous Ballet. She soon becomes a model in the studio of renowned artist Edgar Degas, who will immortalize her image forever. Meanwhile, Antoinette, working as an extra on the stage, must make the choice between a life of honest labour and the more profitable, but significantly less respectable, work available to a young woman.
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The Paris Winter  by Imogen Robertson
It took all Maud Heighton's courage to escape constraints of her small English town and travel to Paris to enroll in a famous art school. But life in Paris is very expensive, so Maud takes a job as a companion to young, beautiful Sylvie Morel. As Maud is drawn into the Morels' world of elegant luxury, she learns their secrets, including Sylvie's addiction to opium. Soon, an even greater deception will plunge her into the darkness that waits beneath this glittering city of light.