New Book - The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan (Pages 1 - 142)

First Published: 2012
 

SPOILERS!!!

It is 1878 and in Paris Marie and Antoinette von Goethem live in very poor conditions. Their father died and their mother often is dead to the world after drinking absinthe. There is another daughter, Charlotte, who is only seven. Antoinette was part of the ballet classes in the opera, but she was dismissed when she did not pass the exams to be in the next class. So what she does is walk-on parts in the ballets or plays, and in 1878 she takes her sisters to start ballet, and they are accepted.

Antoinette meets a young man Emile, who sweeps her off her feet, and they start a relationship. Antoinette manages a steady part in a play by Zola, and Emile is also there too. Their relationship is intense, but as time goes by, Emily shows that his love for Antoinette is fickle, but Antoinette does not care. All she wants is him. With the end of the play Antoinette has to find a job in a washhouse, which prevents her from being with Emile, who she misses with all her heart. One of her friends is Coletter, who is a prostitute, and in the last chapter she takes her to the brothel, where Antoinette is dressed beautifully and offered food and wine by the Madam, and she is tempted to let a man have his way with her, but in the last moment she realises that she can't be with anyone other than Emile.

Marie tries hard to keep up with her dancing, and she is not bad but she is not a star either. Then Degas, the painter, chooses her as her model and pays her money that she needs. Marie is ambitious and wants to do better in life. She also likes studying and reading. When Degas stops using her, she has to find a job in a bakery, which means that she has to wake up very early, work the dough for hours and then get to her dance classes. This takes its toll, and the teacher notices. She even hints that she could have a patron, a man who would give her money in exchange of sexual favours.

I think the book is really interesting and I didn't know much about Degas and the world of ballet in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century.