A terrific debut novel, telling a compelling coming-of-age tale. Margot is the daughter of a respected avant-garde actress and, secretly, the married French Minister of Culture. It's not a spoiler to say that the secret doesn't last even the first half of the novel -- but how it comes out and why is part of what makes Lemoine's novel so richly compelling. It reads at an almost-thriller clip and its rich with symbolism, but it never tries too hard to be anything other than the chronicle of a young woman who isn't aware yet of her own power. Lemoine's writing is also decadent (she published recipes for most of the food in the book on her website! amazing.) and yet never overwrought. There's a 60s/70s classic taste to this novel -- it takes place in the present but it feels somehow timeless, or at least (and I say this knowing full well the complex connotations of the word) vintage.

Believe it or not, I was actually so excited to read The Margot Affair, that when I saw it for sale on eBay, I almost put a bid in. Then I didn't and I'm sort of glad. While the book has incredible writing and prose, it just wasn't a story that I found myself caring about. I truly hate when that happens. As much as I wanted to love it, and I was completely happy to be reading bits and pieces in French, I just didn't have the joy I was expecting.

I will say, however, that the writing is superb. It's wonderfully constructed to the point that it almost feels like a Tartt novel. But that being said, for me, I didn't connect to any of the characters. I didn't care about anything happening, and I wasn't as drawn to read as I wanted to be. But this is Lemoine's first novel, and I will undoubtedly be back when there's a second.

The Margot Affair publishes 6.16.2020.

3/5 Stars

"Coming of age" is a strange expression. Is it a process or an event? Does it occur at a certain numerical age or at a certain level of maturity, the product of knowledge and past experience? Margot, the titular protagonist of The Margot Affair is the daughter of a secret dalliance between her mother and a well-known politician with another official family, comes of age during her final year of lycée at a Parisian high school.

What Margot seems to learn—painfully—is to accept the complexity of adult life. To grow up, she must understand the foibles of her father and mother and all the other adults that fail her. By doing so, she loses the rosy simplicity of youth to join the dark and realistic hallways of adulthood. The effects of this transition are similar to those mined by Françoise Sagan in Bonjour Tristesse, a novel mentioned in this text as the ur-loss-of-innocence story.

In addition to a fresh take on these old themes, The Margot Affair offers an ample dose of psychosexual tension and passages devoted to delicious food. The story also twists in ways you don't expect it to based on the premise, gathering speed particularly after a surprising event occurring at the end of Part I. A charming novel that teeters between complexity and simplicity, The Margot Affair is a quiet but compelling entry into the "coming of age" genre.

This book was great! It was so easy to lose yourself in the story, and kept you turning pages to see what happened next! Will definitely be recommending!

3.75 stars

This novel is understated in an incredibly appealing way, the character development is slow but realistic, and the sense of place is palpable throughout. Readers can smell, taste, and hear various parts of France as they go.

I found Margot a bit frustrating, but the reasons are absolutely on brand for her age, her challenging family situation, and her general life circumstances. Her relationship to her sexuality is refreshing; unlike so many women identifying characters her age, she is not obsessed with what she should and could be doing. Sex - and her related identities - are just parts of who she is, and her disappointments seem to come from the people around her versus bizarre social expectations. This is a nice connection to the circumstances surrounding her birth and family, too.

It's hard to know who to root for in some ways, but that complexity also makes this work appealing. ALL of the characters are flawed, but they mostly have at least moments of sweetness, vulnerability, and even redemption that make them appealing by the end.

A charming, quiet read that is perfect for a summer when one dreams of France and absolutely cannot get there.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with this brilliant ARC.In exchange for the ARC, I offer my unbiased review.

“I thought I wanted transparency, but in truth, I enjoyed keeping secrets.”

Margot, seventeen, is the love child of a once famous French actress and a married prominent French politician. Margot has never given much thought to her father’s other life but a chance encounter with his wife leaves Margot desiring more. Hoping to force her father’s secret family into the limelight she shares her identity with a reporter. This impulsive act will lead to unforeseen consequences.

Beautiful writing, evocative descriptions, believable characters make for a compulsive coming of age story. For fans of White Oleander, A Ladder to the Sky and Call Me By Your Name this is an impressive debut. Highly recommend.

While I love the Paris setting and the story of a political affair told from the daughter of the mistress, I felt this book was trying to be two different stories. I wish it had explored more of the relationship between Margot and her parents. Those were the strongest parts of the story. The novel as a whole was good, not great.

You know how in Mary Poppins, Mary, the kids and Bert jumped into the chalk sidewalk painting and were immersed in another world? That's the sensation I felt reading The Margot Affair - from the first page I felt like I lived inside the character's world, Sanae Lemoine writes just beautiful word images you can practically smell the baguettes baking on the Parisian streets where the titular character, teenage Margot, lives with her Mom, famed stage actress Anouk. The story of Margot, the illegitimate daughter of Anouk and a rising French politician (married) and the fall out of what happens when Margot takes extreme action to finally get recognized as his second family, the one he loved the best. It's a touching story, but what I really most were the descriptions of Paris landmarks, the food...everything really comes to life. I loved this book and can't wait to read the author's second book. It left me crazing more - and craving fresh French bread with creamy real butter and homemade pear jam.

I read this breathless story of desire, deceit, neglect, and betrayal in one day. The fully realized main character is just young and naive enough to believe she can control the narrative once her life is publicly upended. This sexy coming-of-age novel set in Paris asks how well we know those we love the most and how we can begin to reconcile our visions of those closest to us with the facade they display to the world.

This is a frustrating book to review, for as much as I loved it, I'm not entirely sure who the target audience is. Our heroine, Margot, is seventeen, but this isn't a young adult novel (not really). The intimate romantic drama between Margot's parents, a married politician and a famous actress, is sophisticated, but it takes a backseat to Margot's coming-of-age. In fact, the majority of the drama comes from the women in this book - from their jealousies and loves, their spats and shortcomings, and their effects on each others' lives. All of this, of course, is seen through the eyes of Margot, our aforementioned heroine - which returns us to the question: who is this book for? The answer, I think, is a frustrating one: it's for everyone and no one. This is a book that doesn't neatly fit into a genre, which makes it a gem to discover and read. This lush, literary family drama avoids the trappings of similar family drama fiction. Aided by lush writing and incredible detail, this book swept me away to the Paris of Margot's narration - perfect travel reading for when we're all stuck at home. Recommended for anyone who wants a good read, or just to escape to a charming and engaging setting for a little while.

Is it reasonable to say that this is the modern-day, political Bonjour Tristesse?  Margot only sees her father a few times a year--that is, in person.  The rest of the time, she can watch him on the television as the grand politician that he is.  She is the result of her mother's affair with him years ago, and both her mother and her father are very trusting in each other's ability to keep their relationship from all those years ago secret.  But the more that Margot grows older, the more she wants a father figure in her life.  After all, his other children have that, so why not her?

When she meets a reporter at one of her mother's dramatic performances, she toys with the idea of letting the truth be known.  And if the truth was known, then perhaps the problem of her lacking a father would be solved.  But what will her father's wife say?  And how will such a release of information affect his political status?

When she anonymously spills the beans, she quickly realizes how her words have meaning and power.  She has affected relationships, inserted her life into a world of gossip and articles, and finds and loses friendships based on her being the illegitimate child of an actress and a politician.  As she comes to terms with her decision to let her genealogy be known, she also must come to terms that she can't always get what she wants.

Overall, this was a compelling novel that I adored on the basis that I knew what they were talking about, what with the Bacs and the tabacs cobblestone streets.  It took me back to another time, and made it easy for me to feel transported to another place.  It's well crafted, and makes for quite a good story.  Definitely worth reading, especially if you're a fan of the political and personal.

I was fascinated by this story of a seventeen-year-old girl in Paris who is the secret daughter of a famous politician and a prominent stage actress. Margot is finishing her last year of high school, studying furiously, along with her best and only friend, for an important exam that will open opportunities for university. She lives with her mother, who is often emotionally distant and caught up in her acting work, yet there is a strong bond between them. All her life it has been just the two of them, although Margot’s teacher-turned-politician father visits when he can. She has always known that he has a wife and other children and, when she was younger, it was enough knowing that she and her mother were important to him, that they had domestic family moments together, even though they weren’t always as frequent as she would have liked.

After Margot’s mother points out the wife to her while they sit at an outdoor café table, Margot begins to question the situation and wonder about her father’s ‘other’ family. She is dissatisfied suddenly with the fact that her father has never acknowledged her or her mother. She meets a journalist at an event held for her mother and thus begins a journey of discovery about her parents’ relationship with each other and with her, as well as her father’s wife and other children. What she sets secretly in motion has a huge impact on everyone, not least of all Margot herself, as she navigates the emotional terrain between childhood and adulthood. Betrayals and revelations ensue, all narrated from Margot’s young perspective at a pivotal time in her life.

Although I have never been to France, the setting and characters in this novel evoked very strongly for me an atmosphere and life as I imagine it is lived there. From the everyday details about the city, its cafés and streets to the conversations between characters, everything seems permeated by what feels like a very French way of life. I could easily imagine this story as a French film.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Hogarth, as well as the author, for providing me with an eARC of this riveting debut novel. It will be released on June 16, 2020 and I highly recommend it as an absorbing and interesting read.

Margot, who is the product of an affair, lives alone with her emotionally distant, artistic mother, and sees her father occasionally when he pops in for visits. After a chance sighting of her father’s wife, Margot begins to question the status quo of her family’s dynamic. Why do she and her mother have to settle for her father’s leftovers? Why won’t he publicly acknowledge her as his daughter? And most importantly, does he loves his first family best?
Margot decides to assert some control over her familial situation, but isn’t prepared for the fallout.
While the pace of the story was a little slow, I found myself drawn into Margot’s world as she navigates moving into adulthood and independence, while still clinging to her lifelong desire to be parented.
I appreciated the authenticity of the author’s portrayal of being a teenager - how it can be both devastating and exhilarating at the same time.
Thank you to #netgalley and #hogarthpress for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was amazing! It really explored complicated relationships and female friendships. I found myself relating to Margot.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and Hogarth Books for a ARC of The Margot Affair in exchange for an honest review.

For fans of Sally Rooney and Jessica Andrews, The Margot Affair is a parisian dive into the love affair and its familial consequences between an actress, a politician, and their daughter. From the perspective of seventeen-year old Margot, I was immediately pulled into her thoughts and attempts to interpret the world her parents had built for her. Through Margot's thoughts I quickly recognized that she was smarter than I was at seventeen, but between idolizing her absent father and the pull she felt between adoring and resenting her aloof mother, the book felt real to the thoughts of a seventeen-year old who was no longer a child but had yet experienced the intricacy of adulthood. I adored this book, and loved reading these characters in the backdrop of Paris. The author beautifully described the city as if I visited long ago and she was helping me remember my own non-existent memories.

An absorbing & exhilarating read, a book I stayed up all night reading. In the same vein as Chelsea Bieker's GODSHOT, this coming of age novel explores the relationship between mothers and daughters with humanity & complexity. This is one of my favorite releases this spring.

"You go from invisibility to transparency. First, you're hidden, then you become the symbol of an affair."

Margot has lived all her life knowing the circumstances of her birth - that her parents consisted of a mother, a well known, famous actress, and an important married politician who had a wife and two sons. Feeling that her mother had always regarded her with half interest, she always dreamed of the day that her father would make them into a true family. She idolizes him, is constantly seeking his approval in her accomplishments. That father is really the only male character of any note in the book, primary focus being on the women and their relationships and effects on one another's lives through their jealousies, machinations and affections.

With a nod to of Bonjour Tristesse, which plays a part in the story, Lemoine creates a believable narrator in Margot, but it is the depiction of auxiliary characters and the atmosphere of Parisian life that she really shines. The primary focus is on the women and their relationships. Every meal, every odor, every sight, every landmark and vista, all rendered beautifully. And what happens in Margot's world, the betrayals and revelations, all rendered in prose that make this a writer to watch.

At first glance, Margot seems like a typical teenage girl, filled with angst about everything, especially her mother. Margot lives in an up-scale part of Paris, close to the gardens of Luxembourg. She is an excellent student, anxious to get the best grades on exams to secure her place in a good university. Margot's best friend Juliette studies with her, and they usually hang out after school. Margot's mother, Anouk, is an actress who, when not rehearsing for a new play, teaches young actors. If Margot is not with Juliette, she often spends lonely evenings at home, alone.

What Margot wants most passionately is to spend time with her father, who is not married to Anouk. The absent father is the one Margot longs to see. He is kind to Margot, takes her out, and fills her life with the love she desperately needs. Margot doesn't think her mother loves her or even likes her. Margot wants to have a 'real' family similar to those she imagines everyone has but her.

When Margot divulges her situation to a journalist, her world slowly begins to implode. Lurid publicity for her father, the Minister of Culture, is not an unusual situation in the elite of Paris, but it takes a toll on all three. Serious repercussions for Anouk and Margot change their public and private lives.

This new novel does not read like a first novel. I was right there with Margot, hoping she would have some reprieve from the mistakes she made. I loved the narrative and the evolving relationship between mother and daughter. The Margot Affair is an impressive deep dive into the lives of women in today's Paris.

Thank you to the author, Hogarth Press, and NetGalley for this e-ARC (June 16, 2020).

The Margot Affair by Sanae Lemoine is an excellent literary fiction novel that packs so much into just one novel.

Margot is the main character. We as the reader get to see her circumstances, visions, interpretations, and viewpoints through her: a teenager. With her perceptions, we can follow along as she evolves, grows, and changes through her discoveries and mistakes. She is flawed, but she is fascinating. To see her filter and digest these decisions, revelations, and acceptances feels as if we are peeking into her soul.

Fundamental themes of: love, loss, acceptance, relationships, marriages, forgiveness, mistakes, a desire to belong, and coming of age are all at the heart of this book. What better subjects are there that we all can identify with at one level or another? Beautiful characters, descriptions, prose, and pace lend this novel the complexity that it deserves.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

"You think I’m a bad person, don’t you? Why are you always worried about being good or bad? Who taught you that? It’s a way of deferring responsibility for your actions."

This book is the story of Margot, who is the high school daughter of a somewhat famous actor, Anouk. Her dad is a local politician but he's also married to someone else and Anouk is his long-time lover. The story starts as a story about this family and Margot navigating her life in this more unusual set up.

"At Juliette’s, it felt as though my lungs were filled with more air, and the heaviness in my limbs would evaporate until I grew light enough to hover right above the ground, able to breathe at last."

Craving a different relationship both with her mom and her dad, for different reasons. Fascinated by the world. Going through fleeting moments of overconfidence and neediness as many teenagers tend to do. Leading up to her betrayal and the aftermath, I really enjoyed this part of the story.

"Sadness is a fleeting emotion, Anouk said, just as happiness is."

The second part of the story is mostly about Margot and an older couple she befriends and dives into female relationships a little bit but most of the characters in the story are only visible to the reader through Margot's eyes and her feelings and thoughts. I enjoyed the limited view this posed even where it was clear we were getting a filtered view of things.

"My role isn’t to explain everything to you. I can’t explain your father to you, and you can’t understand what it was like. A marriage is a closed world. Anyone who thinks they can explain it to an outsider is a fool."

There's so little that really happens in this story. It's mostly a character study, which is my favorite kind of novel especially when the writing is as visual and expressive as it is here. Even though it's not an uplifting story, I don't think it was depressing either. It felt like a slice of life, with some ups and some downs. As most of life is.

"What happened to daughters like us? Would we flee our families, wanting to be far away, wishing to carve out a life that was ours alone, far removed from where we came from? Or were we always destined to return? I wanted to absorb her into myself so I was never alone. I wasn’t afraid."

I really enjoyed my time with this book. I savored the writing and the characters. It definitely felt French, to me, but the themes, of course are so eternal: marriage, motherhood, belonging, secrecy and friendship. The stuff of life.

with gratitude to netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.