I loved this historical fiction and was enthralled with the writing. Would read more from the author!

It took me a shockingly long time to read such a short novel. The prose is beautiful and poetic, but difficult to fall into. I kept putting it down and walking away; reading in snippets. I think I was also as a distinct disadvantage since I don't know much about Corbusier and had never heard of Eileen. We know that something terrible happened between them, but we don't learn what it is for a really long time, novel-wise. I think if I had know going into the story, it would have added an undercurrent that I otherwise missed.

All that saiid, I finished this book a couple of days ago and I can't stop thinking about it. When I pause for a moment, I find myself revisiting the images the book conjured and I have to remind myself that it's a novel I've finished not a place I've actually been. To me, that's a sign of a great book.

This book was right up my alley; I have a PhD in architectural history and have taught modern architecture courses several times. So I had high hopes and high expectations for this book. I am happy to report that it lived up to any expectations I had.

Villa E is a fictionalized account of 2 real-life architects: Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier (who is referred to as Le Grand or Le G here). They infamously clashed over one of her projects, her Villa E-1027, built in the South of France. The book takes place in the late 1960s, as Eileen is brought back to do some renovations on her second villa in Southern France. Le G, on the other hand, is in his cabin that he built on the hill above E-1027, working on his painting and drinking. Both reflect on their current state as well as the past, including the time where they overlapped at E-1027.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the writing and the way the story unfolded. Not a lot "happens" in the present of this book, which is set over the span of a week. The characters reflect and move around their houses. There are a lot of great descriptions of space and movement through it, which I'm a sucker for. The writing embraces this reflective tone, with sentences that move seamlessly from present to past and back again.

As you might expect in a book about two characters, Alison has drawn a lot of juxtapositions. Eileen represents the mind while Le G represents the body, in contrast to their houses from the 1930s. There are lots of (too many) descriptions of Le G's body and bodily functions, which while a bit unpleasant at times, do all come together in the end. Eileen, on the other hand, is more intellectual and she more than Le G focuses on her memories of the past.

Of course, you can't talk about this book without touching on the question of authorship it addresses. Gray was, for a long time, not credited as the architect of E-1027. She was constantly looked down on, considered simply derivative of Le Corbusier, and is still today not often taught in architectural history courses. She kept cahiers of news articles about her work, where she would correct incorrect attributions and facts. Alison tackles all this misogyny head-on, making it the central current through the book. Le Grand is inherently an unlikeable character (which seems to track with how Le Corbusier reportedly was), making him to be a somewhat unsympathetic "bad guy" foil to Eileen. Though he does have a redemptive moment towards then end, one wonders if it is too little too late.

This book is short and quiet but packs a punch all the same. It was an interesting read especially after reading Rachel Cusk's Parade earlier this year, which touches on some of the same issues faced by female artists.

Villa E is a novel about misogyny, betrayal, and injustice. It tells the story of how the “authorship” of a spectacular piece of architecture is misattributed, not once but twice, to men rather than to than its gifted woman designer. Men, who’ve taken credit and been rewarded for work that they didn’t create. It’s enraging. And familiar.

Based on real life famous architect/designers Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier (in the book known as Le G), Villa E takes place during a week in the later years of their lives where separately, they reflect upon the house that Gray designed in the south of France. She has not (and has no wish to) seen it for many years. He meanwhile lives in his cabanon just steps away from it.

Chapters alternate between Eileen and Le G’s POV. Hers are introspective, exploring her memories, with prose that frequently eschews conventions. She’s restrained and a bit detached. His chapters tend to be focused on his body (deteriorating, often naked) and its desires (sex, swimming, eating) and his creations, both current (the painting of three women he is constantly reworking) and existing. He thinks of himself as Architect-sculptor-swimmer-diver: Mediterraneanman. He is, as the kids say, a bit up himself which, given we know his body of work, is fair but not very likable.

Villa E is short (160 pages) and flows easily despite also feeling, as the friend I buddy read this with said, deeply researched. It led me down lots of internet wormholes learning about Gray, Corbusier and their world. And yet Villa E never felt pedantic; all the details functioned to transport me into Eileen and Le G’s world.

Villa E reminded me of Ali Smith and Rachel Cusk. It is in particular in conversation with Cusk’s Parade in its exploration of the barriers creative women face but it also plays with prose in ways that reminded me of both of them.

I truly enjoyed Villa E and am eager to look into Alison’s backlist. I’d be saying it could be a Bookery kind of book except, alas, I haven’t been able to find a UK/Irish edition so it’s probably not eligible.

Thanks very much to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of Villa E. I’m familiar with Jane Alison’s craft book Meander, Spiral, Explode, but I’d never read any of her fiction before, which, I realize now, was definitely an error on my part. The prose in Villa E truly is a work of art; such beautiful, unexpected sentences. This novel (which is almost short enough to be a novella?) is a lovely, compact work of literary fiction about a little slice of history I was totally unfamiliar with. Highly recommend.

Jane Alison is a master, and Villa E is no exception. A strange, taut story of two artists, set in a far flung locale. I mean!

Thanks to the publisher for the egalley.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Historical fiction about a love story that resulted in a magnificent house.

I found this historical fiction - fictionalized? - novel mesmerizing. Being inside the minds of two different, aged and aging artists, Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier, here named Le Grand, as they individually trek back to the South of France location where both took ownership, real and stolen, of a villa designed and built by Eileen pre-World War II. It's atmospheric and compelling, poetic and lyrical, and disturbing, about art and artists, about men and their power, their presumptions and assumptions, about gender, love, relationships, genius and jealousy, about the hunger to create that is never assuaged. There is philosophy and art and thousand-year-old caves and paintings and decades-old love affairs and disturbing and offensive and illegal behavior and I will remember these artists, as rendered by Alison, for a long time. I did wonder why Eileen is identified by her real name and Le Corbusier is given a pseudonym, and I'd love to know the reason why. I do not think one has to have any advance knowledge of who either was to fall into this book. It presupposes an intelligence on the part of the reader, which I loved, to follow along (and it's easy) as we switch between one artist and the other, as we moved from one artistic mind to the other, one female, one male, and of their time and place, although Eileen is more of her time, of the way women's achievements were treated than is Le Grand. There is an interesting repetition that is carried through the book - of the colors of the ocean, sky, the plants, and more, which served, for me at least, to intensify the strange and winding bond between Eileen and Le Grand, even all these years later after what he'd done to her first venture into architecture, the villa she designed and named Time.

Thanks to W.W. Norton & Company and Netgalley for the arc.

This short little book certainly packed a punch. As a reader, I found myself sucked into the story and the lives of Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier and how their stories tapped danced around each other. This lyrical book gives the reader not only insight into the two designers, but also what it is like in the twilight of their lives when maybe the best years were behind them. Although I enjoyed the book, I think it might be difficult for a reader with no architectural design background to follow the book or understand who the two main characters are or what they have meant to the world of design (although maybe no one who did not know the designers or the story might not be enticed to read the book). I think it would have been helpful to have included illustrations (preferably photographs) so the reader could have seen the structure of Villa E (and Villa S), as well as Ms. Gray's innovative furniture that is a part of the house. When I searched the Internet the pictures of Le Corbusier's cabin gave me a much better idea of what the author was trying to describe in words. I do understand that the book is historical fiction, but the people and places are real; illustrations would have given the story context. I also think that end notes (I found the ending very abrupt) or a more extensive prologue would have been helpful. I read Villa E on a kindle, so maybe in print, the book may be more extensive?

The description sounded very interesting, but the copy was really too messed up, badly typeset, to be readable. I couldn't read past the first 10 percent--this is not on the author, the publisher should have taken better care.

I first learned of Eileen Gray in a drafting/intro to architecture class way, way back in high school. Her name and “E-1027” (Villa E) stuck with me over the years, not only because she was the lone female architect we studied, but also, well . . . because of The Incident with Le Corbusier. I was intrigued to read Villa E, Jane Alison’s new novel revisiting Eileen, Le Corbusier, and E-1027, and happy to receive an ARC copy of the novel.

I found Villa E to be an interesting story worth telling, however, I found the book challenging to read. The writing is choppy and spare, with a stream-of-consciousness narrative that is not terribly compelling or engaging. The author does a reasonable job creating distinct voices for both main characters (Eileen and Le Corbusier), but I didn’t find either character to be complete or to stand out on the page, and at times, it took me a while to figure out who was "talking." For readers not familiar with E-1027 and its history/architectural significance, the author does include flashback scenes, but a general knowledge of the history of E-1027 seems necessary to fully engage with the story.

Bottom line . . . Villa E is an interesting and stylish story, but it takes quite a bit of effort to get through this relatively short novel.

Thank you to W.W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on August 6, 2024.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

At first I found the writing style in VILLA E to be quite choppy and almost disjointed. However, I'm glad I persevered b/c I did ultimately enjoy the reading experience. There's a remarkable sense of place, and readers who enjoy learning about architecture will find much to admire. In terms of the story itself, I admire the shorter length, which feels just right. Any longer and it would have seemed bloated/unnecessary. Kudos to the publisher for being willing to put out a book that is the length the story needed to be. I recommend this one for fans of literary fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance e-galley; all opinions in this review are 100% my own.

Thank you NetGalley and W. W. Norton for an ARC of this book!
“Villa E” follows Eileen Gray and the famous architect Le Corbusier in a French villa. The book traces the pairs artistic choices and creatively tells the story of the pair.
The writing style of this novel is a little hard to adjust to, and sometimes distracts from the character development and plot points. If you are able to invest time in the reading experience, I would suggest you pick up this book.
This book is perfect for anyone who has learned or wants to learn more about the famous characters in the novel, as they are based off real people. I have spent a lot of time learning about Le Corbusier in my coursework, and this book added a lot of depth and a human perspective to the famed figure.

Thanks to W. W..Norton and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Villa E by Jane Alison. Sense of place is strong in this novel. I especially enjoyed the architecture and art aspects.

Thank you for the opportunity to read Villa E for a honest review. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried I just could not get into this book. The sentences felt too choppy and was very hard to follow. The story line was decent but the execution is lacking.

Thank you @netgalley and @ w.w.norton for the eARC of Villa E by Jane Alison in exchange for an honest review!

📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 Jane Alison gives us the most amazing escape to the south of France, where the blue ocean is unlike any color we’ve ever imagined and the smell of pines amidst rich vegetation lingers pleasantly with a cool breeze. Villa E is a wistful, beautiful read that combines the precise nature of architecture with the beautiful ease and delicacy of poetry, a truly remarkable and poignant combination. The writing is beautiful and often choppy, which feels like a reflection of the unfinished nature of this story.

Review is posted on Goodreads and will be on Instagram ahead of the publication date!