Author: Elizabeth Ross
Description (from Amazon.com): “When Maude Pichon runs away from provincial Brittany to Paris, her romantic dreams vanish as quickly as her savings. Desperate for work, she answers an unusual ad. The Durandeau Agency provides its clients with a unique service—the beauty foil. Hire a plain friend and become instantly more attractive.
Monsieur Durandeau has made a fortune from wealthy socialites, and when the Countess Dubern needs a companion for her headstrong daughter, Isabelle, Maude is deemed the perfect adornment of plainness.
Isabelle has no idea her new "friend" is the hired help, and Maude's very existence among the aristocracy hinges on her keeping the truth a secret. Yet the more she learns about Isabelle, the more her loyalty is tested. And the longer her deception continues, the more she has to lose.
Inspired by a short story written by Emile Zola, Belle Epoque is set at the height of bohemian Paris, when the city was at the peak of decadence, men and women were at their most beautiful, and morality was at its most depraved.”
Review: So as a newly minted young adult librarian, when the “William C. Morris YA Debut Award,” honoring “a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens” (YALSA) nominees were announced and I hadn’t read any of them, I felt a little bad and started reading immediately. And to make my decision about where to start easier, the nominee with the most intriguing description (to me) and the most beautiful cover (to me) was available in ebook form from my library – Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross. I’ll be really honest – though I haven’t read any other of the nominees from this year, I have read a few nominees and winners from past years, and I don’t think this will win. But I might change my mind once I’ve read some/all of the rest.
That said, I loved Belle Epoque. I found the concept of hiring a repoussoir as a professional “foil” to be fascinating, and eerily realistic. I would be so supremely unsurprised to hear about celebrities (especially the “famous for being famous/attractive” type celebrities like Paris Hilton or any Kardashian) doing exactly this. In fact, I suspect plenty of them are already doing something along these lines. And it certainly brought thoughts and questions about beauty, class, and culture to the forefront, which worked especially well with the Parisian setting and Bohemian side characters.
Maude was an engaging and realistically flawed main character. She was idealistic, kind, and artistic, but also easily seduced by material things and the glamour of the high society life she was thrown in to. Her friendships were believable and I was really invested, but the damage she did to them was also believable in light of her flaws. To me, Maude’s friendships with Isabelle and fellow repoussoir Marie-Josée were the highlight of the book. The romance was decidedly a sidenote, and felt unnecessary to me. The conclusion was exciting and satisfying overall, though it felt rushed.
Belle Epoque was delightful historical fiction, centered by a solid main character and some really fantastic side characters. It could only have been strengthened by more focus on Maude and her friendships, and less on romance, but that’s a small complaint. Overall, this was a great read despite some minor flaws, and I would definitely recommend it. I hope we see more young adult books from Elizabeth Ross in the future!
Note: I reviewed this book on my library’s teen blog recently, so much of what I have written was also discussed there.
Second Note: I am posting this WAY after the fact. As of the time the award winners were announced on January 27, I had read four out of five Morris nominees.
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