La Belle Époque & The Terrible Year
In 1895, Madame Nathalie Toussaint lives and works as a concierge at an upscale apartment house in the stylish and exciting Paris of La Belle Époque. One morning the brutal and vicious murder of le Comte d’Ermenville, her upstairs neighbor and employer, shatters her quiet routine. Madame Toussaint is briefly suspected of the killing, and the savagery plunges her into an investigation stretching twenty-five years into the past, to that “terrible year” of 1870-1871—the year of the Prussian siege and the ill-fated revolt of the Paris Commune. The novel seamlessly moves back and forth in time as long-buried alliances and enmities rise to the surface while Madame Toussaint attempts to solve the killing.
This book transported me to an era I knew very little of. A sympathetic and intelligent heroine, Madame Toussaint makes the best of the difficult cards life has dealt her. Chamberlin masterfully paints the story of two antithetical cities and brings them both to vivid life. The starving Paris of the Franco-Prussian War and the struggle of the idealistic Commune contrasts sharply with the glittering city of 1895, whose older inhabitants shut the past tightly behind closed doors while living the high life in a renewed and rebuilt metropolis. The appearance of historical personalities such as Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec reinforce the accurate sense of Chamberlin’s portrayal of Paris. The plot surprises at every turn as the story unfolds. Heartfelt nuances of the human condition, accurate history, and a twisty delicious mystery combine to make a wonderful read. Recommended.
