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A review by shelleybaird
The French Photographer by Natasha Lester
4.0
Once again Natasha Lester has shown how incredible research combined with amazing storytelling results in a novel that you can't put down. In The French Photographer, Lester has created lead characters you will fall in love with, cheer for and cry with.
This dual narrative set in WWII and the early 2000s, charts the journey of the novel's lead character Jessica May, a photojournalist as she covers the war for US Vogue. During this time, Jessica takes on the sexism that existed in both media and military establishments of the day with a dynamic force and determination. Lester acknowledges this character was inspired by American photographer and photojournalist Lee Miller, whose WWII stories included the liberation of Paris and the concentration camps Buchenwald and Dachau. The novel does not shy away from including these events and this is when we get to experience some of Jessica's May soaring highs and crushing lows.
The second part of the narrative introduces us to art curator D'Arcy Hallworth and it is through D'Arcy that we learn about what happened to Jessica May after WWII. D'Arcy is a complex character herself but to say anything more would be to head straight into spoiler territory.
I throughly enjoyed The French Photographer and can't wait for Natasha Lester's next novel!
This dual narrative set in WWII and the early 2000s, charts the journey of the novel's lead character Jessica May, a photojournalist as she covers the war for US Vogue. During this time, Jessica takes on the sexism that existed in both media and military establishments of the day with a dynamic force and determination. Lester acknowledges this character was inspired by American photographer and photojournalist Lee Miller, whose WWII stories included the liberation of Paris and the concentration camps Buchenwald and Dachau. The novel does not shy away from including these events and this is when we get to experience some of Jessica's May soaring highs and crushing lows.
The second part of the narrative introduces us to art curator D'Arcy Hallworth and it is through D'Arcy that we learn about what happened to Jessica May after WWII. D'Arcy is a complex character herself but to say anything more would be to head straight into spoiler territory.
I throughly enjoyed The French Photographer and can't wait for Natasha Lester's next novel!