The Painted Girls

The Painted Girls (2013) by Cathy Marie Buchanan. Beginning in 1878 in Paris, three young sisters struggle for survival after their father dies. Their mother turns to drinking absinthe, and becomes more of a liability than an asset. The girls fall back on their own talents, trying to become dancers in the Opera. Marie, the middle child, succeeds, but Antoinette, the oldest, falls into an ill-fated love affair with a brute named Emile. The book shows how young girls in Paris in that time period had virtually no protection from predators and others who would take advantage of them. Much to my surprise, I learned that the girls were based on historical characters, and that Monsieur Degas did indeed do sketches and a sculpture of Marie. The book is a fascinating mix of art, history and fiction and, much to my relief, did not end in tragedy. I have little interest or knowledge of the central subject, the dance, so I wasn't totally transported by the novel, but I did find it enjoyable enough to read it all the way through. Grade: B+