The hero of this rich, multi-layered novel is the Landauer House, a stunning modernist structure commissioned by a Czech couple in the late 20s. Viktor is Jewish and Liesel is not, and their new home becomes the focus of their optimism and faith in the future. Of course it doesn’t work out as planned, as their marriage is strained by infidelity and Czechoslovakia is torn apart by war. Viktor and Leisel escape to America and the Landauer House is passed from Czech to Nazi to Soviet ownership, with its inhabitants all coming under the spell of the Glass Room, a brilliantly atmospheric space with floor to ceiling glass walls. The book is a penetrating study of emotional frailty and delusion, betrayal and the power of confession. The book was so enthralling I didn’t want it to end. Interestingly, the author used the Villa Tugendhat, a modernist masterpiece designed by Mies van der Rohe in the 20s near Prague, as the basis of his fiction.

I recently read “Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel, a fascinating “revisionist” novel whose protagonist is Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s councilor. This history of Anne Boleyn’s last days is a perfect companion volume. In engrossing detail, Alison Weir chronicles the final months of Anne Boleyn’s life, from her last glimpse of Henry to her date with the executioner. All the familiar characters are there, and if you thought you knew this story already, I guarantee you’ll be enthralled and appalled by the detail Weir has unearthed. Makes an interesting counterpoint to Mantel’s fictional version, which ends a few years before the Weir book begins.

I found a copy of Consequences, by Penelope Lively, as I was browsing through Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. The first paragraph was so perfect I had to buy it. I wasn’t disappointed. This short, compressed, jewel-like novel introduces the reader to three generations of a British family, from the 1930s to the present. Lively’s vivid and economic prose captures in a page what other writers take a chapter to convey. She shifts her point of view from character to character, generation to generation, so unerringly that their lives become as authentic as your own.

Last month I read a fascinating book about a highborn Frenchwoman, Madame de la Tour du Pin, who weathered the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and much else to lead a remarkable life. I just finished a book about an equally dynamic Frenchwoman, one born at the opposite end of the social spectrum, who would climb to the peak of power. I am speaking of Madame de Maintenon, the secret wife of Louis XIV, the Sun King.  From literally a beggar in the streets of Paris, she rose to become Louis’ sole mistress and secret wife for 40 years. She was his most trusted advisor, his closest confidante. As such she grew to wield considerable power in what was the most opulent and influential court in Europe. The picture of this court, of Louis and his scheming courtiers in Versailles, of life in the 17^th century in all its horror and splendor, is captured vividly in this engrossing narrative. If you love French history, especially the story of its most intriguing women, you won’t be disappointed.

If you follow this blog you know that I’m a book lover and an antique store habitué. Combine the two and you’ll surmise that I love searching for old books. Some of my favorite finds are oversize books with illustrations that can yield a treasure trove of interesting prints. In categories as diverse as naturalist drawings, maps, landscapes and commercial illustration, I’m always on the trail of hidden gems. I’ve found Audubon bird collections that are stunning; detailed 19^th century black and white drawings of classical Paris that I’ve given to specialized artists to infuse with color; Currier and Ives commercial illustrations that are evocative time capsules of America in the 19^th century. Some I keep intact for coffee table perusing. Others make for a wonderful series of well-framed prints in the appropriate location.

This is the first book in a trilogy of novels based on the life of Josephine Beauharnais. And what a life it was! Josephine was Napoleon’s mistress, wife and then Empress of France, a title she held until he traded her in for a young princess after she failed to produce a male heir. The story begins in Martinique, where Josephine’s father owned a sugar plantation. She arrives in Paris after an arranged marriage just in time for the French Revolution, where, needless to say, the actions heats up considerably. The first novel chronicles Josephine’s precarious existence as an aristocrat during the revolution and its aftermath, ending with her marriage to Napoleon. All three books are meticulously researched and immensely readable. Ms. Gulland pulls you into this fascinating woman’s life with great skill, to the point where you simply must read all three books.

And what an era it was. This French aristocrat was 19 when the Bastille was stormed signaling the start of the French Revolution. She was at Versailles with Marie Antoinette soon after, narrowly escaping a mob of peasant woman with pitchforks. She had numerous close calls with the guillotine, finally fleeing to America. She was a favorite of Napoleon, and a friend of Empress Josephine. She was in Belgium near the climactic battle of Waterloo. And on and on. The mother of six children, only one of whom survived her, she wrote a diary of her life that has been in print virtually since it was published over a century ago. Author Caroline Moorhead has taken the diary and fused it with extensive research to paint a picture of this indomitable woman and the dramatic age she lived in. Lucy was the archetypal survivor, and her story makes inspirational reading. 

Until now I’ve focused on books with either an interior design or French cultural motif, but this book is such an enthralling mystery that I feel compelled to recommend it, especially during summer beach reading season. The Likeness is the second book by a young Irish novelist. Her first was also brilliant (In the Woods), but the second is even more sophisticated and psychologically puzzling. A policewoman is persuaded to go undercover because she is the uncanny physical double of a woman who has been murdered. Not only that, but the name of the dead woman is an alias the policewoman used on a previous undercover assignment. She enters the hothouse atmosphere of a group of graduate students in a Dublin country home, who’ve been told their roommate survived the attack. So our hero is pretending to be this dead woman, among friends who knew her intimately. And possibly murdered her. For mystery lovers, it’s irresistible.

This book of beautifully reproduced black and white images represents a photo journey through the gardens created by Andre Le Notre, the most important garden designer at the court of Louis XIV. The photographer is Michael Kenna, whose work has been exhibited in the finest museums in Paris, London, San Francisco and Prague. In approximately 6o plates on 80 pages, he takes the viewer to 10 different locations in France including the Tuileries in Paris, Versailles and Fontainebleau. The photographs are superb, taken at dawn or dusk when the natural light is at it’s most evocative. They are haunting, mysterious, at times surreal images, complemented by an essay which explores both Kenna’s expressive work and the magnificent gardens of Andre Le Notre.

Betty Lou Phillips is a writer and designer I both admire and with whom I share a strong design kinship. She does an admirable job explaining the key elements of French interior style. Among them are the importance of color, the art of hanging art, and the specific qualities of the French kitchen, bedroom and salon. And there are more than 200 photos that take your breath away.