Blurb
Manhattan, Paris, 1942: When Jessica May’s successful modelling career is abruptly cut short, she is assigned to the war in Europe as a photojournalist for Vogue. But when she arrives the army men make her life as difficult as possible. Three friendships change that: journalist Martha Gellhorn encourages Jess to bend the rules, paratrooper Dan Hallworth takes her to places to shoot pictures and write stories that matter, and a little girl, Victorine, who has grown up in a field hospital, shows her love. But success comes at a price.
France, 2005: Australian curator D’Arcy Hallworth arrives at a beautiful chateau to manage a famous collection of photographs. What begins as just another job becomes far more disquieting as D’Arcy uncovers the true identity of the mysterious photographer — and realises that she is connected to D’Arcy’s own mother, Victorine.
Crossing a war-torn Europe from Italy to France, The French Photographer is a story of courage, family and forgiveness, by the bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress and A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald.
My Thoughts
A book that it so far from my usual reads that I almost didn’t read it. But boy, am I so glad I did. I laughed, cried, ugly cried, and was angered; essentially I did a full circle of emotions because the content called for it. A story about women’s rights and their experience during WWII which was a time that really focused on the masculinity of men going off to war and woman staying home and tending to the house and children.
Jess’s character was admirable. She was strong, and identifiable. I loved the vulnerability of Josh and D’Arcy, the walls that were broken given their struggles and the journey of discovery and intimacy that we, the readers, were taken on. The ability to transport the reader to a different time and place is really an art, not everyone can do it, but Natasha use of description, both emotional and situational, was splendid. That was the reason I cried. The reason why I felt so enthralled in every characters journey.
It was a story of dedication, passion, strength, and overcoming obstacles to find personal peace. It was inspirational. And it’s disappointing that woman have to fight so hard to be considered equals.
That ending though!
Thank you so much to Hachette AUS for my copy of The French Photographer, I really appreciate it.
I rated The French Photographer: 5/5 Stars
Happy reading,
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