The Painter’s Girl

Helen Fripp

Publication date: March 22, 2022 by Bookouture

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Women’s Fiction

Rating: 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Paris, 1860s. For Mimi Bisset, survival is everything on the cobbled streets of the Paris slums. She tries to forget the pain of losing her daughter Colette: born out of wedlock and forcibly given away to a rich family. But Mimi’s world turns upside down after a chance encounter with handsome artist Édouard Manet. Boldly posing for portraits on Manet’s chaise longue, Mimi feels a wild freedom – and as Manet teaches her how to layer the vivid paints on canvas herself, a passion grows between them that breaks all the rules…

At Manet’s side, Mimi is caught up in his world. They dance all night at Paris’s new can-can clubs and drink absinthe at masked balls. But one day, strolling by the Seine on her lover’s arm, Mimi catches a glimpse of familiar green eyes… it’s Colette, with a family who Manet knew all along.

Although she’s reeling that the man she loved kept such a secret from her, Mimi is filled with hope she’ll finally get her daughter back. But when a terrible rumor begins to circulate about Mimi, the only place she has to go is back to the slums. Destitute, hungry and alone, can Mimi clear her name? Or will her heart shatter all over again when she loses her daughter for a second, final time?

My Thoughts:

Mimi is a refreshing literary character. She shows both the good and the bad of Paris in the mid-late 1800s. She fully represents the tide of change sweeping through both the art world and society at that time. Mimi didn’t allow the accepted status quo to define her. Fripp writes a story that allows Mimi to jump off the page as she moves throughout her life. Everything Mimi experienced- from her alcoholic mother, living in the slums, giving up her daughter, overcoming a near death tragedy- all pushed her towards finding success and happiness on her own terms. While there were times that the book felt a bit deja vu, overall it is a fast paced enjoyable story.

I received a copy of this title from the publisher Bookouture via NetGalley.