The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan – 357 pages
Book Blurb:
Paris. 1878. 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 seventy francs a month, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work—and the love of a dangerous young man—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 herimage will forever be immortalized as Little DancerAged Fourteen. Antoinette, meanwhile, descend lower and lower in society, and must make the choice between a life of honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde—that is, unless her love affair derails her completely.
My review: 3.5 stars
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This is a book about sisters, about art, about history and about love. It is told from two different voices, Marie and Antionette, two of the three sisters from the van Goethem family. Both girls have interesting voices in their own right and through their words; we learn their connection to the Paris ballet, the art of Degas and a sensational murder during this time period. Through the lies and the truths they told themselves and each other, this book became an easy, enjoyable read. I would’ve liked to know more about Edgar Degas and why there was such a connection between him and the ballerinas. It was interesting enough to learn about his subjects, in which the story revolves, but of course, I wish there was a deeper connection to the artist.
Quotes I liked:
She was lost to me, a sister who did not love her sister anymore. Such a stupid thing, striking that match.”
– “Willfulness, such as yours, is exactly what a girl needs to raise herself up to do something useful with her life.”
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