The Painted Girls

A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Literary, Historical
Cover of the book The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan, Penguin Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Cathy Marie Buchanan ISBN: 9781101603796
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group Publication: January 10, 2013
Imprint: Riverhead Books Language: English
Author: Cathy Marie Buchanan
ISBN: 9781101603796
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication: January 10, 2013
Imprint: Riverhead Books
Language: English

A heartrending, gripping novel about two sisters in Belle Époque Paris and the young woman forever immortalized as muse for Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.

1878 Paris. 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 seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work 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 her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. There she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde. 

Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.” In the end, each will come to realize that her salvation, if not survival, lies with the other.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A heartrending, gripping novel about two sisters in Belle Époque Paris and the young woman forever immortalized as muse for Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.

1878 Paris. 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 seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work 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 her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. There she meets a wealthy male patron of the ballet, but might the assistance he offers come with strings attached? Meanwhile Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labor and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde. 

Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.” In the end, each will come to realize that her salvation, if not survival, lies with the other.

More books from Penguin Publishing Group

Cover of the book Hitting the Books by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book The Crocodile's Last Embrace by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book Sea Power by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book The Sea-Wolf and Selected Stories by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book Honor Bound by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book A Wee Murder in My Shop by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book The Girl with Braided Hair by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book A Voice in the Night by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book Die Trying by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book Whispers in the Dark by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book The Cocktail by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book Long Shot by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book Tempting Fate by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book The Italian Wife by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cover of the book A Student of Living Things by Cathy Marie Buchanan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy