Description

An atmospheric, exuberant novel about love and sex, art and revolution, experimentation and creativity from the best-selling author of The Postcard, Anne Berest, and her sister, the acclaimed novelist Claire Berest, based on the life of their great grandmother.

The year is 1908, the height of the Belle Epoque, and a brilliant, young French woman named Gabriele, newly graduated from the most elite music school in Europe, meets a volcanic Spanish artist named Francis. Following a whirlwind romance, they marry and fall headlong into a Paris that is experimenting with new forms of living, thinking, and creating. Soon after marrying Francis, Gabriele meets Marcel, another young artist, five years her junior. Soon, Francis, Marcel, and Gabriele are all three involved in a fervent affair that will change the course of art history and redefine the avant-garde. Surrealism, Dada, and Abstraction are among the new artistic practices and new ideas that emerge from this electric love triangle in the following decade, during which the Belle Epoque sours and the world descends into the devastation of World War I. Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, and Gabriele Buffet-the protagonists of this brilliantly imagined “true novel”-are vividly reimagined by the Berests. Moving between Paris, New York, Berlin, Zurich, Barcelona, and Saint-Tropez, Gabriele is as audacious, uninhibited, and unforgettable as its central character, the mercurial, pioneering Gabriele Buffet.

Publisher Review

"Love and art collide to change the course of history in this passionate, daring and utterly enthralling novel." * Louisa Treger, author of The Paris Muse * "Gabriele is an extraordinary character-and her tumultuous life seems stranger than fiction. A talented composer, a reluctant mother, a passionate lover and a paradoxical heroine, she inspired painters and poets. This book is a delight to read." * Catriona Seth, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature, Oxford * "Sensitive, refined, intelligent... An unmitigated success." * Les Inrockuptibles * "A story crafted with luminous tenderness." * L'Obs * "A powerful exploration of family trauma." * Lauren Elkin, author of Art Monsters (on The Postcard) * "A novel of rare grace and importance." * The Guardian (on The Postcard) * "An intimate epic." * Daily Mail (on The Postcard) * "An absolute heartbreaker." * The Sunday Times (on The Postcard *