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By the time Suzanne Valadon was 15 years old, she’s been a horse walker, a milliner’s assistant, a funeral wreath maker, and a circus acrobat (among other adventures). Then she became a sought-after model, painted by the greatest of the great. Her close friends included Degas, Renoir, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Paris celebrated her - until she decided to take up the brush herself at a time when art schools refused to accept female students.
Read the story of Suzanne, a bastard from the tenements who fought to be seen for herself, and Ellie, a modern woman a century later, at a crossroads of her life, who pulls Suzanne into the light from the shadows of the past.
“A touching and compelling story of two extraordinary women who lived a century apart but were sisters of the heart.”
Girl Braiding Her Hair - Book Club Questions
Thank you so much for picking my book for your book club! I would love to know what you all think about the story. If you don’t mind telling me, please stop by my FB page. It would make my day.
Sometimes, reader groups ask me for discussion points, so here are a few in case you can use them.
Here are some suggestions for discussion points. Pick and choose as you wish.
- Did you know about Suzanne Valadon before reading this book? Did you look up her art while reading? What do you think of her work?
- Why do you think the female Impressionists (Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond, Cecilia Beaux, and Lilla Cabot Perry) were never as famous as the men?
- In what ways do you think Valadon’s childhood affected her later life? Do you think she was able to overcome generational trauma and become a good mother?
- Do you think growing up without a father in a century when that wasn’t socially acceptable impacted her relationships with men?
- What did you think about Ellie’s present-day storyline? Could she have dealt better with her grief? In what ways?
- Family relationships are difficult. Did you think there was too much unnecessary drama between Ellie and Abby, or did their interactions ring true to you?
- What did you think of Ellie’s idea of a museum for unseen art? What types of art are still underrepresented? What would you like to see on the walls, if you could visit the MUA? (I’ll give you my answer to this one. If I had a museum, I’d do a huge exhibit of artists who died before their art could be recognized. I’d let anyone bring their wife’s, husband’s, mother’s, father’s art and put it up, so people could see it all.)
- Do you have a pie-in-the-sky dream? What is it? If you were to reach for this dream, what could be your first step?
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