BOOK REVIEW: I yelled at this book. It went something like this, “ARGH!”
Natasha Lester has done an incredible job of weaving the stories of two women together across multiple decades. It is a story of courage, sisterhood, love and loss.
But what I will remember it for most is shining a light on the incredible injustice of what female war correspondents during World War II were put through, for simply being women.
BOOK REVIEW SYNOPSIS: We begin in 1942 with the story of New Yorker and iconic Vogue model Jessica May. With her career sabotaged by a jealous ex-boyfriend and the challenges of modelling never quite feeling enough for her she answers Vogue’s call for a war correspondent.
At certain points in this book my heart just ached for what Jessica May and her fellow female war correspondents went through.
And then it happened…I threw it across the room and yelled ‘Ugh!’
My intolerance for injustice is clearly lower than Jessica May, who fought on long after I would have thrown something at or punched several secondary characters in this story.
Switching to a more modern-day storyline, we follow Australian Art Handler D’Arcy Hallworth as she travels to France on a project to manage the transportation of works of a mysterious photographer.
Now D’Arcy strikes me as one of those people that you either love or hate when you first meet. And I hated her.
But she wooed me in the end. She’s fiery, passionate, free and unapologetic about it all. That’s how she got me to love her.
Real Women. Real Inspiration.
One of the things I love most about author Natasha Lester is her ability to find incredible women and shine a light on them in her stories.
Jessica May is inspired by Lee Millar. Lee grew up in France and lived in Paris, Egypt and New York among other places. In 1944 she became an accredited US Army.
She. Was. A. Bad. Arse.
She was likely the only woman combat photo-journalist to cover the front line war in Europe. She was even billeted in both Hitler and Eva Brauns houses in Munich.
She photographed Hilter’s house at Berchtesgaden in flames on the eve of Germany’s surrender. And famously snubbed Hitler by being photographed in his bathtub.
You can see why Jessica May is one of my all-time favourite Historical Fiction heroines.
The French Photographer is definitely a must read, especially for lovers of Historical Fiction. I devoured it!
Find out more about The French Photographer and Natasha Lester here.
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