Paris 1870. Raised for a life of parties and servants, Camille and Mariele have much in common, but it takes the horrors of war to bring them together to fight for the city and people they love.
The story of two women whose families were caught up in the defense of Paris is deeply moving and suspenseful
~~ Margaret George, author of Splendor Before the Dark: A Novel of the Emperor Nero
Tod is not only a good historian, but also an accomplished writer … a gripping, well-limned picture of a time and a place that provide universal lessons ~~ Kirkus Reviews.
A few weeks after the abdication of Napoleon III, the Prussian army lays siege to Paris. Camille Noisette, the daughter of a wealthy family, volunteers to nurse wounded soldiers and agrees to spy on a group of radicals plotting to overthrow the French government. Her future sister-in-law, Mariele de Crécy, is appalled by the gaps between rich and poor. She volunteers to look after destitute children whose families can barely afford to eat.
Somehow, Camille and Mariele must find the courage and strength to endure months of devastating siege, bloody civil war, and great personal risk. Through it all, an unexpected friendship grows between the two women, as they face the destruction of Paris and discover that in war women have as much to fight for as men. War has a way of teaching lessons—if only Camille and Mariele can survive long enough to learn them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M.K. (Mary) Tod
has been writing historical fiction since 2009.
Her novels include Paris In Ruins, The Admiral’s Wife and three others.
She is also the author behind the award-winning blog, A Writer of History,
where Mary and her guests explore the reading and writing of historical fiction.
The riveting odyssey of one of the world’s most scandalous works of art.
In 1866, maverick French artist Gustave Courbet painted one of the most iconic images in the history of art: a sexually explicit portrait of a woman’s exposed genitals.
Audaciously titled L’Origine du monde (The Origin of the World), the scandalous painting was kept hidden for a century and a half. Today, it hangs in the world-renowned Orsay Museum in Paris, viewed by millions of visitors a year.
As the first artist authorized by the Orsay Museum to re-create Courbet’s The Origin of the World, author Lilianne Milgrom was thrust into the painting’s intimate orbit, spending six weeks replicating every fold, crevice, and pubic hair. The experience inspired her to share her story and the painting’s riveting clandestine history with readers beyond the confines of the art world.
L’Origine is an entertaining and superbly researched work of historical fiction that traces the true story of the painting’s unlikely tale of survival, replete with French revolutionaries, Turkish pashas, and nefarious Nazi captains. But L’Origine is more than a riveting romp through history—it also sheds light on society’s complex relationship with the female body.
NB: this is a historical novel, no explicit scenes
BOOK TRAILER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paris-born Lilianne Milgrom
is an internationally acclaimed artist, award-winning author,
blogger and freelance art journalist.
She grew up in Australia
and has lived for extended periods in Israel
and the United States where she currently resides in Fairfax, Virginia.
She is a graduate of Melbourne University and the San Francisco Academy of Art.
Milgrom spent a decade researching and writing L’Origine: The Secret Life of the World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece.
Her debut novel has been awarded six literary honors
and she was selected as a semi-finalist for the pilot
of a new reality TV series America’s Next Great Author.
July 9, 2024
WordsAndPeace
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