The French Photographer by Natasha Lester
Pages: 448
Publish date: March 26th 2019
Publisher: Hachette Australia
ISBN: 9780733640025
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD
Manhattan, Paris, 1942: When Jessica May’s successful modelling career is abruptly cut short, she is assigned to the war in Europe as a photojournalist for Vogue. But when she arrives the army men make her life as difficult as possible. Three friendships change that: journalist Martha Gellhorn encourages Jess to bend the rules, paratrooper Dan Hallworth takes her to places to shoot pictures and write stories that matter, and a little girl, Victorine, who has grown up in a field hospital, show her love. But success comes at a price.
France, 2005: Australian curator D’Arcy Hallworth arrives at a beautiful chateau to manage a famous collection of photographs. What begins as just another job becomes far more disquieting as D’Arcy uncovers the true identity of the mysterious photographer — and realises that she is connected to D’Arcy’s own mother, Victorine.
The French Photographer:
Over the last two years, I’ve started to read more and more out of my comfort zone per se. And picking up The French Photographer by Natasha Lester was differently that in a way. While historical fiction, both protagonists were adults. In saying all this, I adored this one and I could not put it down.
I was immediately taken, as soon as I read the synopsis for this one. It’s rare that I see world war II books that also look at feminism, and I couldn’t wait to see how The French Photographer looked into that. Lee Miller inspired this book, being one of the first female photojournalist, Lee Miller. I found this totally fascinating.
The French Photographer follows two female protagonists from two different timelines. Jessica May from 1942, while at the peak of her modelling career, she packs up her life and travels to Europe working as a photojournalist for Vogue. But when she arrives the men around her make it as difficult as possible. But Jess discovers friends along the way, and they help and encourage her to bend the rules and write what she thinks is important. Then there is D’Arcy in 2005, who arrives in France to manage a collection of photographs. But it isn’t just the photographs that she discovers, but something so much more.
Jessica May was hard to get along with right from the start, but as the novel went on I really enjoyed her strength, resilience and the fact that she never gave up. It was really cool seeing a different role of a female during the war. For the most part, nurses were really the only role that I knew a lot about. I was totally intrigued by the role of women being a photojournalist during the war. The French Photographer really looks into this through Jess and I loved it. As the novel went on Jess became someone that I admired and really grew to cheer for. But while she was making these steps in the right direction, she is still a woman in the 1940s.
There were some moments throughout the novel that were really hard to read. I had to put the novel down, take a few breaths and then pick the book back up again. It wasn’t just the way that Jess was treated by the males, but some of the atrocities of war that Jess had to witness and even go through herself. While they were hard to read at times, I’m glad that Natasha Lester didn’t hide away from having this in the novel. It made The French Photographer feel even more real. I really liked seeing the different ways that males reacted to females on the front line. While some scenes and interactions were harder to stomach than others, it showed the progression of everyone.
D’Arcy was such an interesting character. I really enjoyed getting to know her through her scenes. I loved that she was a curator and from the start, the audience can see that she loves what she does. When D’Arcy arrives in France she doesn’t know what to expect. But as she finds out more about the photographers that were taken, she finds out more about the history of her family. While I did guess things that did happen throughout the novel, I was still as shocked as D’Arcy when she found out.
The French Photographer does deal with the war, but there were many other themes that do stand out. Friendship and family is one of those. I adored and I mean adored Jess relationship with Victorine. Victorine melted my heart. The way that she treated everyone around her, just put a massive smile on my face. The way that Jess and Victorine connected, was beautiful. I loved seeing their relationship form and turn throughout the novel. I cried a lot because of the scenes between these two. Some were happy tears, but there were others that torn my hear.
Like I said before, there were some really hard scenes to read throughout The French Photographer. I tried to keep it together, but towards the end – oh wow. The ending torn me apart a little bit. Really the last 80 pages or so did. When I thought that everything was going to be good, it turned me on my head. I loved that I couldn’t tell what was going to happen, but gosh did it hurt me.
I really enjoyed the writing style of Natasha Lester. This was the first book that I read by her, but I really enjoyed it and I think I might pick up some more soon. I really liked that she seamlessly intertwined both Jess and D’Arcy’s story together. I didn’t feel that one took over the other. While I loved getting to know Jess more, D’Arcy’s story needed to be told, for Jess’s to be finished.
This utterly breathtaking read will make you cry, laugh and warm your heart. With a dual narrative, Lester is able to navigate the war zones of 1942 and the more modern world of 2005. A tale of feminism during a time when the ‘male hero’ was prominent. Jessica May embodies a woman that is smart on her feet. She doesn’t let men tell her what to do and isn’t afraid to be in the thick of things.
While also heartbreaking, The French Photographer is also very real. It shows the effects the war had on not only the lives of people but also their relationships and how trying to move on from the war. If you are looking for a historical fiction that embodies feminism, strength and seeing the war from the female perspective then this is for you.
Have you read The French Photographer by Natasha Lester? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading? What are some of your favourite world war II novels that deal with a different side of the war? Let’s Chat!
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