What a lovely book! I had never heard of Lee Miller or Man Ray before picking up The Age of Light, but was quickly sucked into their lives. The story is an interesting one as it starts off with Lee later in life acting as a gourmet cook and food writer. When her editor asks her to write a story about her time working with famous photographer Man Ray, the story jumps back in time to when Lee was in her 20s living in Paris and acting as Man's assistant and eventually lover. The book also flashes to Lee's years in Germany as a war correspondent- at first I was confused by these sections, but soon realized it would have been a huge loss if Scharer didn't include them.

Lee is such an incredibly strong force of a woman and someone hard not to admire. Despite her flaws, I found myself constantly rooting for her and wanting the best. Her relationship with Man was very complicated; beautiful in many ways, but also filled with jealousy and strong personalities.

After reading The Age of Light, I did a fair amount of research into Lee and Man because I was so intrigued by their story. I was a little bit disappointed by how much was left out of the book... So many techniques Man was known for and so many accomplishments in Lee's life. However, I realize that the book needed a focus and wasn't meant to be biographies of their lives. And I always say that the mark of a good historical fiction novel is when I'm intrigued enough to do more research on my own after the book ends.

As someone who dabbles in photography, I'm excited to continue looking into all the advances that Lee and Man made, both together and independently. I would happily read another book (or 3) about Lee Miller and/or Man Ray!

The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer chronicles in historical fiction the love affair between a former model turned photographer Lee Miller and the famed photographer Man Ray, an influential force in the Dada and Surrealist movements rooted in Paris in the 1930s.

We first meet Lee in 1966 as a puffy middle-aged woman prone to drinking whiskey and dulled by the monotony of her marriage and life on a farm on Sussex England. At midlife, Lee has settled for a meh marriage and an unfulfilling but steady job writing cooking articles for Vogue as the magazine’s domestic correspondent, the same magazine where she once was the cover model. Lee’s life is a far cry from the passionate adventurous years of her youth as the lover of Man Ray and later a war photographer.

Midlife malaise has set in and is seeping through her every fiber. As the author writes of her current state: “There is so much more that’s making her angry that the stranger who greets her in the mirror each morning, burst blood vessels blooming across her puffy face.” The quality of Lee’s writing has thinned along with her drive and enthusiasm to remain the domestic correspondent. Lee is stuck:
“But she knows her writing is still good. Her photos are still good. Or they would be if she could do them if she could shrug off the stultifying sadness that she pulls around with her like a heavy cape.”

In an effort wake Lee from her sleepwalking slumber professionally and personally, and salvage her writing career at Vogue, her editor Audrey and her husband Roland want Lee to write a piece for Vogue about her years with Man Ray suggesting it would do her good to have a big project to focus on. Lee has no choice to acquiesce to this thinly veiled threat: if Lee refuses to write the article, she is finished at Vogue. So begins the story she chooses to tell: “If you tell something enough times it becomes true, just the way a photograph can trick you into thinking it’s a memory.”

Or as the author states: “Lee could tell the real story: the one where she loved a man and he loved her, but in the end, they took everything from each other—who can say who was more destroyed? It’s the story that she’s locked up tight inside herself.”

Thus the heart of the novel begins in 1929 Paris as we witness in vivid detail the friendship and professional mentorship that turned into a passionate love affair fueling a prolific period of art and creativity in Lee and Man Ray’s lives, as each becomes the other’s muse.

Lee and Man Ray bring out the best of each other for a while. He is inspired to paint, his primary artistic passion. Lee learns to become an accomplished photographer in her own right. Their relationship and professional lives bloom amid the backdrop of 1930s Paris, and the creative class of literati, moneyed patrons, artistic outliers and the Avant-guard providing plenty of fascinating fodder for vignettes and encounters that propel the book’s plot.

The eccentric characters who cross the path of Lee and Man Ray offer a voyeuristic window into the sexually fluid society that left Lee perpetually questioning Man Ray’s own sexuality while she struggles to reconcile with her unhealthy relationship with her father.

The author writes each chapter as cinematic scenes where I could easily envision the action and setting playing out in real time. The sensory detail, the dialog, and the characterization work in perfect sync to immerse the reader in a time, place and creative ethos that produced some of the early 20th Century’s most noted artists.

Lee Miller has been a muse her entire life: for her father; countless fashion photographers; Man Ray; even own husband, Roland, who seeks to capitalize on his wife’s rarefied artistic connections. What’s left for Lee to claim as her own, when her very essence is the source of everyone else’s art and success? The author’s debut novel, The Age of Light, is an engrossing read with profound subtexts about beauty, love, art and the tortured struggle to be both muse and master of your art.

A trifle sensational at times, this is an extremely fascinating look at two enormously talented and interesting people. Lee Miller was a model in the 1930's, who moved to Paris and became the lover/muse/protégé of Man Ray, renowned photographer. She in turn later became the first woman war correspondent. This is the story of her transformation from model to photographer, her love affair with Man Ray, and her struggle to succeed in a man's world, all set in the middle of the decadence of Paris of the time. Glimpses of her childhood, her work during the war, and her later years add a whole level of depth to her at times tragic story. I could have done without the steamier scenes, but the ending was so moving it made it made it all worthwhile. Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the e-arc. 4+ stars! This one will stay with me for awhile.

This book has everything I love. 1920s Paris. Art. A smart, strong, creative woman - Lee Miller, who has always fascinated me. This book is exceptional and I can't wait to tell everyone I know about it.

The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer

This book grabbed my attention right away. I love the cover and am instantly intrigued. When I read the description, the words “bohemian” and “Paris” instantly jumped out at me, then learning the book goes from 1930s Paris to Europe during World War II and I knew I HAD to read it. I cannot wait to get started!

Synopsis:

Their romance unfolds against the backdrop of bohemian Paris, with nights spent at smoky cabarets, opium dens, and Surrealist parties, and days spent working together to discover radical new photography techniques. But as Lee begins to assert herself, and moves from being a muse to an artist, Man’s jealousy spirals out of control, and soon their mutual betrayals threaten to destroy them both.

Told in interweaving timelines of 1930s Paris and war-torn Europe during WWII, this richly detailed, sensuous, and captivating debut by Whitney Scharer brings Lee Miller– a brilliant and pioneering artist in her own right–out of the shadows of a man’s legacy and into the light.

I'm an obsessive fan of surrealism, modernism, and Paris between the wars, and this book ticks all those boxes, plus a few extras like underappreciated female artists, non-conformist women navigating relationships with celebrated men and behind the scenes insight into Cocteau's filmmaking process. Sharer covers all this and more in this easily digested epic of one woman's life. Everyone who is frustrated with their book group should recommend this book to enjoy reading again.

The Age of Light is one of those books that says with you long after you've finished it. The story follows beautiful model Lee Miller as she moves from NYC to Paris and reinvents herself as a photographer. She meets Man Ray, already a successful artist and photographer, and they embark on the kind of love affair that defines one's life. Lee is Man Ray's lover, partner, protege and overall muse and their relationship plays out on the pages , drawing the reader in. I had no idea I was reading about 2 real people and as soon as I finished the book and googled them I was fascinated all over again.

The beauty of this book is hard to put into words. It's not a light read--it's the kind of book that each sentence, each moment, is crafted so beautifully that you'll want to slow down and savor it all. It's literary fiction at its best. Lee and Man are extremely well drawn and even though both of them are a bit unlikeable sometimes, as a reader, I was completely along for the ride --wherever it was taking me. The end of the 1920s part of the book did not disappoint, and I also appreciated the way the epilogue completed the story. The only thing that was somewhat out of place, were the parts at the end of each section that followed Lee through Europe during and after WWII. I understand what the scenes were meant to show about Lee, but to me, the were completely unnecessary. Overall, this was a captivating piece of historical fiction that I can't get out of my head!

Thank you NetGally for the advance copy!

What a great book!!! I am a fan of all things WWII, so I know a little about Lee Miller. This novel gave a great glimpse into her life with Man Ray and her time taking photographs during WWII. She helped pave the way for women.

I knew very little about Lee Miller before diving into this delightful debut novel (thanks NetGalley and Little, Brown). I was immediately drawn in, not just by the exquisite language and Scharer's gift of storytelling, but also her ability to send you right into the mind of Miller. Scharer squeezes your heart, and inflames your senses with every move that Miller makes. It was only afterward when I wanted to know more about Man Ray and his enchanting lover that I found Scharer took a few liberties with Miller's history, but all for the good of the story itself. I devoured this gorgeous book and all of the decadence of Paris in the 1930s, the bohemian lifestyle of these artists and Miller's complex transformation into a woman of her own that underlies it all. This book left me in tears on the last page. The impression of this novel is one I will carry with me for months and years forward.