When Margot is seventeen and preparing for her final exams, her family circumstances make it into the press. Margot lives with her mother, and while her father visits when he can, he has his own family who don't know about his other life. He's also the French Minister of Culture. Margot's mother is an actor and has raised Margot to be self-sufficient, but that lack of nurturing leaves her vulnerable. This novel follows Margot as she struggles to come to terms with and to understand her parents and herself, just as journalists are eager to hear from her.

There are shades of Mitterrand's secret daughter, but this was clearly just a jumping off point for Lemoine's novel, which is less about the press attention than it is about Margot struggling with her feelings about her odd family and, perhaps because this is a French novel, the things I expected to find in it were absent. Margot's story is far more interesting and nuanced than I'd expected.

I went into this expecting somewhat of a thriller because of the synopsis, so I think that skewed my expectations for this. It’s not at all a thriller, more along the lines of literary fiction as we follow 17 year old Margot. This was surprisingly a beautiful story and I enjoyed Sanae’s writing. I will definitely check out whatever she writes in the future.

Margot, 17-years old, has had an unusual childhood. She lives with her mother, Anouk, a moderately successful actress in Paris. Her father is a politician, slowly rising up the ranks of the French government. He has another family, so Margot and Anouk have always been a secret. This has been Margot’s norm and though she’s always been aware of the strange circumstances of her existence, it hasn’t bothered her much. Then one spring day, she and her mother glimpse Madame Lapierie, her father’s wife, from a distance. This sighting, not even an encounter, sets Margot’s mind in motion, questioning the circumstances, the fairness of her life.

“We were, I realized, on the wrong side of Father’s double life.”

The Margot Affair is told by Margot herself in a very direct, matter-of-fact way with little emotion. Very earnest and easy to like, I immediately found myself drawn to Margot. She’s reached a point in her life where many things are colliding. She’s facing her last year of school, exams and decisions on what to do with her life, and now she can’t stop thinking about the “other family,” the “real family.” She begins to feel small and insignificant and because she’s a secret Margot has few people to confide in. A chance encounter with a journalist and his wife, set in motion an end to the secret that is Margot.

“I lived in a strange space, caught between the guilt of being his weakness and the desire to be everything.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, especially the first half where Margot never quite felt secure in her mother’s devotion to her. Sanaë Lemoine cleverly played that out in Margot hearing several stories of mothers who had lost their children. She had much to consider about her parent’s choices, own life, and her relationships with them. As Margot grew more confused and influenced by others, I felt the story slowed down a bit. However, the story all came together in an ending I truly enjoyed. If you’re a fan of coming-of-age stories or books set in Paris, put The Margot Affair on your library hold list.

Note: I received a copy of this book from Hogarth (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

The Margot Affair is a novel about the product of an affair.

Margot’s mother is a famous actress and her father a secret to all but a few people. Her father is married to and has a family with another woman.

Margot’s father is, as she says late in the book, defined more by his absence than his presence. As someone with a dead dad, this book was like sticking a fork in my eye and then pouring in salt every chapter or so. It’s a book about needing and missing your father. Fortunately, my story isn’t like Margot’s, where her father chose to stay with his wife and live his life outside of her home. But more, this novel was about growing up and realizing how much a mother can give up for a child, invisibly and never realized. Or at least, that was my interpretation, colored by my experience as a parent and decades ago as a child.

The book was well executed. It’s easy to see that Margot’s world is small—her mother, her mother’s two best friends, her own best friend and her father. In the book, she gains two friends for a spell.

I think the final chapters in the book were the best, in part because there was much more action and resolution. There was also a payoff for some of the more difficult chapters in the middle of the book. Yet there is a lingering sadness about this novel, an ache when considering that many people do the right thing but only much, much too late.

Still reading and enjoying this debut novel. Margot is the daughter of a famous French actress and a married man. The book describes the difficulties of the parent-child relationship. Margot is seventeen and she is trying to figure out her place in the world between two famous but distant parents. I am loving it, and I am loving that is set in Paris.
I highly recommend this book and also to check the author website for recipes from the book! (http://www.sanaelemoine.com/margot_ate)
Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

Margot Louve, child of renowned actress Anouk Louve and politician Bernard Lapierre, enjoys living in an exclusive Paris neighborhood and attending a competitive school. Her mother often accuses her of being spoiled. But she misses something she’s never had: a legitimate father. Bernard was married when he met Anouk, and though they’ve had an affair for twenty years, Margot’s remained a secret to the world.

The summer before Margot final year in school, she and her mother see her father’s wife, Madame Lapierre, across the park. Until then, her father’s primary family had been illusory and forgettable, but with an incontrovertible image of her mother’s rival, she begins to question the role she and her mother play in her father’s life.

At an afterparty for a play, Margot meets journalist David Perrin, and, later, emails him, flirting with the idea of revealing her origins. As she continues corresponding with David, she meets his wife, Brigitte, who captivates her. Margot’s decisions create life-altering consequences for everyone in her orbit.

Many of the French books I’ve read have a lyrical rhythm and an almost ethereal atmosphere. Author Sanaë Lemoine was born in Paris, and The Margot Affair exhibits this French sensibility to the book. In fact, I first thought it was written in French and translated! I loved this writing style: every sentence is imbued with beauty, yet there is much humor as well.

Margot’s desire to be seen and recognized—particularly by her father—drives her behavior, some less productive than others. Mothers, though, too, impart important though for the most part dysfunctional, and the relentless focus on weight and appearance was hard to bear.

I enjoyed reading the book for its lovely writing and thought-provoking themes plus its Paris mise-en-scène and recommend it for fans of literary fiction.

Completely riveting. It will draw you in from the first page until the last. Hauntingly beautiful it feels as if you're right there with them as the story unfolds. Sometimes reaching for something that should remain elusive has devastating consequences. Happy reading!

4 stars

Margot Louve is the secret child from an affair of a French politician and and actress. Her father is married and has two boys with his wife and visits Margot and her mother in secret so as not to cause a scandal. Now that Margot is a teenager, she comes to realize that she wants more time with her father other than the little time he can spare from his job and family. She wants a father who is present in the traditional sense. She becomes so fed up with this arrangement and on an emotional whim, decides to set wheels in motion to "out" him. The consequences of this decision transitions her into adulthood and the book changes course to reflect this.

I flew through this book in a day and was initially disappointed. It started out strong, but then kind of fell into a pattern of waiting. If you feel like giving up (as I did), I urge you to continue into Part 2, where Margot forms a relationship with an older couple that has trouble all over it, but she can't seem to see that so lost in her own despair and (in my opinion), naïveté. There is a lot to unpack in this short debut novel and I think this would make a perfect choice for a book club to discuss. There are a lot of complex relationships that would keep a psychologist busy for days. As I sit here reflecting on this book, I'm increasing my rating from 3.5 to a solid 4. Sanaë Lemoine is definitely an another to watch and she reminded me a bit of Kiley Reid in that the writing was so clever it almost made it too easy to overlook some of the complex themes. The book also made me hungry!! So much delicious food always being cooked or eaten. I wanted to consume about 90 loafs of bread while reading it.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Hogarth (Penguin Random House) and Sanaë Lemoine for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Review Date: 06/14/2020
Publication Date: 06/16/2020

** I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review **

The Margot Affair is the story id Margot, who is the lovechild of a French actress and politician. Her father is active in her life, but she and her mother are very much her father’s secret life. Margot decided to open to a journalist during her senior year of high school, and what follows is a deep dive into the relationships that define us.
This book is a good slow burn. Each chapter leaves you wanting to know more each character’s evolution. It’s not something I’d normally be drawn to, but I found the journalism angle of interest. If you’re looking for something different to read this summer, The Margot Affair might be it.

"The Margot Affair" is a well written novel - but unfortunately it didn't capture my attention from start to finish. The plot is a little to soap opera for me. I do think if you are fan melodrama and family secrets, you will enjoy it. I wish I loved this book. Don't get me wrong, it's not a horrible book, it's actually quite decent, but not very intriguing. A little predictable and watered-down. Even though I wasn't captivated by the story, I'm still giving it 3 stars based on the strong writing and the relatability of Margot, our main protagonist.

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House for the digital ARC.

Release date: June 16, 2020

This was a very well written book. You feel such compassion for the daughter. It was a little difficult for me to get into, but I stuck with it and am happy that I did.

The Margot Affair is a very nuanced novel for a debut author. This book at times felt more like a memoir than a fictional story. As I was reading this book I grew to love Margot more and more.

Margo was born of infidelity to her actress mother and her politician father who was already married with children. We meet Margo as a teenager. She lives with mother but does share a closeness to her father when he is able to visit her, Her mother is aloof in her parenting style, and it is obvious her father has an affection for her. It is his one goal to legitimately claim her.

This book was written in two parts, the first half you really understand the dynamics of their relationship. Then Margo does something that will affect her family forever. Deciding she is tired of being a secret, she goes to a journalist to tell her story. When the story is finally published, her life quickly metamorphoses into something else.

The second part of this book, is much darker, but this is where I could not put this down. The writing was just lush, and at times I was reminded of Lolita. While I will not give anything away, I will say that the ending is just so satisfying.

This was a wonderful debut novel. The writing was gorgeous, and you will feel for the characters in the world that was created. I am looking forward to seeing what other books are written by this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Hogarth for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have been trying for a while to read the book, but it really just hasn't captured my interest. I had high hopes for it, but I'm about a quarter way through the book and I still feel like there's not much of a story at all. I don't know if I'll finish it, honestly.

Be careful what you wish for. Margot is the child of a French politician who has never acknowledged or spent much time with her. Her mother Anouk is an actress, they live on the Left Bank, and as she turns 17, things start to turn in her mind. When she meets David, a journalist, and his wife, Brigitte, a ghost writer, she is persuaded to tell all. Things don't turn out as she'd hoped when her father's secret family is revealed- but you can guess that. What's interesting about this is how delicately Lemoine brings the reader into Margot's world. She doesn't realize that she's being used. There's a lot of talk about food but it's not in a positive way for her. She's in a unique situation but she's still a girl who wants a father. It's a great read that will remind you of the fragility of the late teen years, when you think you know what's best. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

It has always been like this: her father would visit them every other day, sometimes they did not hear of him for weeks. But when he opened the door, he was there completely for Margot Louve and her mother Anouk. No holidays together, no show up at school events, he only belonged to their private life and for the world outside their Paris apartment, there simply was no father. Nobody knew who he was because everybody knew him. He was a public man, a well-known politician and the husband of another woman. When Margot meets a journalist, the idea of going public with their story pops up, thus forcing him to finally decide between the two lives and families. She is sure that he loves her and her mother much more than his actual wife and therefore, she sets in motion a chain of events with an outcome she would never have imagined.

Sanaë Lemoine’s story of course immediately reminds the reader of the former French presidents Mitterrand’s double life which he only revealed shortly before his death thus making Mazarine Pingeot suddenly one of the most famous daughters of the country. The author does not try to hide the parallels, she even mentions and integrates the real life events in her novel thus underlining also the differences between the two. Written from the daughter’s perspective, she convincingly gives the voice to a young woman full of insecurities and marked by her quite naturally limited understanding of her parents’ affair.

I totally adored the first part of the novel which focuses on Margot and her relationship with her father. She does not question her life and the fact that she can never talk about who her father is, knowing that he loves her deeply is enough for herself and the arrangements also seems to work well for her mother. When the two of them accidentally encounter her father’s wife, something in her is set in motion and it only needs a little pushing by a journalist to develop her fatal plot. She is too young to foresee the scope of her action and what the possible outcomes are.

In the second part, unfortunately, the author lost me a bit with the shift of the focus. Margot is fascinated by a woman a couple of years her senior and the journalist’s wife. Brigitte is a strong contrast to her always distanced and rather cold and controlled mother and fills some kind of emotional gap that opened in her life. For the reader it is quite obvious that she is to a certain extent lured on to destruction and falls prey to the reckless woman. Even though the development between them is well portrayed and slowly moves towards the final blow, Margot lost a bit of her charming personality for me and the reflective and thoughtful young woman turns into a naïve and emotionally dependent girl which I did not really like to follow anymore that much.

A psychologically interesting novel about relationships and emotional needs of children and their parents, but also a study of how the choices of life you make always will have an impact on other people, too.

Put on some Édith Piaf and pour a glass of red....

This book is so French....in the best way possible. An affair, a secret child...it's everything a good French drama should be.

This is about relationships - with our parents, with ourselves. Who are we? Are we our parents? Are we representative of our parents? When can we be honest?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book..

3.5 stars.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Hogarth (Penguin Random House) for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Margot Affair follows our titular Margot, the secret lovechild born from a several-decade-long affair between an up-and-coming, married politician and a fairly famous actress in Paris. Over the course of the novel, secrets regarding Margot's life are revealed, as Margot develops a questionable relationship with an older, married couple, both of whom work in cultural journalism.

This was a mash-up of the coming-of-age story alongside the people behaving badly setup, both of which I quite enjoy if they are done well. This novel fits well amongst other debut novels that utilize these two tropes (if you will) such as Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends and Madhuri Vijay's The Far Field, both of which were novels that I enjoyed. If you like either (or both!) of those novels in their plotting (less so in tone), then I would highly recommend you check out The Margot Affair.

As for my thoughts aside from comparisons to other novels, I really loved Lemoine's voice. Her evocation of French food and culture created such a wonderful atmosphere and for much of the book, I felt like I was in Paris with these characters. The characters themselves, however, left a bit desired for me. This was in part, I believe, due to the novel being from Margot's perspective, as her views on many of her closest companions in the novel are incredibly warped by her feelings and frustrations about the circumstances those around her have put her in (and some that she has brought upon herself), making it difficult to get a true grasp on any of the other character's true personalities (which is something Margot herself also grapples with). Additionally, for the book focused on Margot's "coming of age", I didn't quite love her as a character and found her to be a bit too naive, given her age and upbringing.

Overall, I am interested in reading more of Lemoine's work given her atmospheric writing style, but the execution of the characterization in this novel did not quite hit the mark.

The Margot Affair is told by Margot, a high school student in Paris who is the daughter of an actress and the French Minister of Culture. But this is no ordinary family. She spends little time with her father since he has another family.. She and her mother are a secret. Whom can she trust? Whom does her father love more? Many questions are asked and answers revealed in this well written and intriguing book.

This book follows Margot, who is a child of an affair between two high profile people. It is Margot's coming of age tale amidst this, and I couldn't put it down. It was unique and propulsive and I highly recommend!

This story unfolds through the eyes of 17 year old Margot. Her mother is a famous actor and her father is a rising politician. However, her father has a wife and children and she and her mother are his secret affair. Her father comes to see her sporadically. She wonders what it would be like if she had a full time father. As a young woman she does not always know who to trust. This book has a slower pace than most books. It is not action packed. It is the viewpoint of a young woman. It is really nice to sometimes read a book with a slower pace that delves into feelings and changes in someone's life. I did enjoy reading this book.