DISTANT MAGIC

Author: Debra Finerman ISBN: 0307352838 7/2007 HISTORICAL FICTION Publisher: THREE RIVERS PRESS
Time Period: mid 1800's France

When Victorine Laurent joins the chorus of the grand Paris Opera ballet, she expects to become the mistress of a wealthy man; this is how young women without family survive in the decadent City of Light. Yet when the artist Edgar Degas introduces her to the avant-garde painter Edouard Manet, her life changes dramatically. Manet brings her to the cafes and the art studios where intellectuals of the city gather. Victorine agrees to pose for him, and the result is a nude painting that shocks Paris—and opens doors to the highest levels of society for her, both socially and politically. Overnight, she becomes the city’s most sought after courtesan in Paris, invited to lavish and exclusive social events and pursued by the wealthiest of men. When she becomes the favorite of the Duke de Lyon, the power behind the shaky government of Emperor Louis-Napoléon, her continued attraction to Manet becomes dangerous, because the duke is a man who will have Victorine all to himself—at any cost.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Debra Finerman paints an intriguing picture of the fictitious Mademoiselle Victorine Laurent who is modeled after two real-life women—one, a scandalous aristocratic courtesan, and the other, Edouardo Manet's favorite model and muse. The portrait that results from the blending of these two personalities creates a vivid picture of not just Victorine's character, but of the creative people, societal values and the explosive political atmosphere of her day.

Victorine is a self-created woman—sold by her aunts as a child, she is self-reliant and strong-willed, determined to find a sense of security that has always seemed to elude her. Beautiful, proud and daring, she and Manet form an instant connection when she first poses for him. Both are drawn immediately to the other, but Victorine knows that to cross the line from platonic to carnal in their relationship could ruin their friendship forever. Fraught with sexual tension, this on-again off-again pairing of soul mates remains constant throughout the book, even as Victorine loses her heart to an aristocrat and finds herself the pawn in a political plot that could mean disaster for her country. Betrayed, ill-used and disillusioned by the man she loves, Victorine nevertheless manages to persevere.

Finerman does an excellent job with Victorine (and everyone else in this book, for that matter). The more the story went on, the more intriguing and fascinating Victorine became. This is a woman who raises herself from common lorette to become Paris's most famous and talked-about courtesan, posing nude in controversial poses for an artist whose new style of painting is just as scandalous as she is. The way Finerman incorporates Manet's actual paintings into this story is amazing—if you read this book, make it a point to search them out (you can find them many places on the web). It adds so much to the storyline, further illustrating what a great imagination this author has to make it all blend together so seamlessly.

MADEMOISELLE VICTORINE is a portrait in itself, a story of passion, intrigue and determination, and of people with extraordinary talent willing to march to the tune of a different drummer regardless of what society around them might think. However, the best part of this story is Victorine, who, as her name implies, will overcome adversity to become the eventual victor, while those who caused her harm get their own comeuppance in the end. You just can't ask for an ending better than that.

Nancy Davis