Unless you are a fan who enjoys romance with a blue tint, don't read this book. In my efforts to read historical fiction with an artistic bent, I made my way to this book. It is about Edouard Manet, and it's also about the birth of the Impressionist movement with Renoir, Degas, Claude Monet and others, There is a lot of angst, romance, and non-explicit sex in the book. It tells the story of Berthe Morisot who is a young woman who lives in Paris and who is trying to bring her artistic works to the forefront at the same time as all the great 19th century artists that lived and worked in and around Paris at that time. There are some true historical events mentioned in the book such as the four month 1871 Paris Commune revolution. It depicted quite clearly the effect of this socialist revolution on the ruling aristocratic class. It also depicted the birth of the Impressionist movement which was formed when a group of painters decided to go against the French establishment, who have been keeping a tight rein on the artists and paintings that are"acceptable" for their annual Salon. There was no room for any hotheaded disagreements with what the establishment was determining was acceptable artistic license and what wasn't. The story is about the love affair of the married Edouard Manet and his favourite model of the time who was the unmarried Berthe Morisot. I found the book to be very literate and lyrical. Ms. Robards has a way with words and her descriptions of places and people was excellent. I found the book to be overly melodramatic though. I thought that someone should give Berthe a kick in the butt for her mindless and unsound judgement in all her dealings with a totally unavailable and unacceptable man. She does finally pull whatever dignity she has left around herself, and she makes a final move away ,which removes her from Manet's orbit and his pursuit of her. The book was ok, but not as enjoyable for me as some of the other books I've read about famous artists and their paramours. ( )

Paris....1860's The dawn of Impressionism

Young Berthe Morisot is captivated by Edouard Manet
He becomes Berthe's mentor, teacher, lover..... ( )

It was a pleasant beach read but not as great as I was hoping it would be. It promises a lot and sets up high goals with it's setting (around French Revolution) and with the great painters, like Monet, but it still seemed lacking. It had potential but wasn't my cup of tea. Also, there was almost too much French going on for a book written in English. It's as if the author was unsure the reader would remember where this story was taking place.
It's labeled as "Women's Fiction" which I find insulting and yet appropriate. ( )

Kind of dull, but I finished it. ( )

The snow brought many delays here at Christmas and surprises for New Year—white roads and ice, layers of black and gray, and speckled flakes that flattened and broadened the scene beyond my window-pane.

One of the surprises was Elizabeth Robards’ book With Violets, sent to me from the Fiction Readers group on Gather. The doorbell rang at seven in the evening, and I tore the parcel open eagerly. Inside, the book was bright and inviting with a white-dressed figure reclining off the edge of the cover, holding violets in her hand. Something in the sharp-edged flowers or speckled grays on the dress was reminiscent of the era Robards is writing about, the time of the French impressionists. It seemed appropriate to the blurred and snowy world outdoors as well.

I settled down to lose myself in reading, and was transported to a very real depiction of Paris in the 1860s, introduced to wonderful characters with complicated lives and loves, and invited to ponder fascinating mysteries of human relationships, history and art.

As evidence of how much I enjoyed the book, I found myself looking up the main character, Berthe Morisot, on the internet as soon as I finished reading. I found a painting by her of a woman in a white dress that matched the book’s cover, and another painting, by Manet, of Morisot holding a bunch of violets. As I read the articles I felt like I was reading about real people who I’d already come to know through Robard’s novel.

With Violets is written in the first person, giving it an immediacy that draws the reader quickly into the era. And Robards’ language, right from the start, splashes the colors of impressionism onto the page. As Morisot becomes aware of Manet in the room behind her (on page 2), she describes “patterns of speech reverberating like a symphony of color… One timbre dark and rich as umber shadows. The other, vibrant as vermillion.” It sounds completely natural in the context of a young woman with paintbrush in hand, and gives an immediate insight into the way the artist thinks and experiences the world.

Sometimes the switches in tense in the book startled me, but they soon became part of the flow—a story told in vivid colors, unmixed, placed side by side like the paintings she describes. And just occasionally there were words or turns of phrase that seemed to miss the mark (but perhaps I’m too English). Touches of French, and French phrasing, are unobtrusively placed, and well-paced, giving background and flavor. And the world of Morisot and Manet is fleshed out beautifully with references to world events. I was fascinated to realize how little I had considered where the impressionists fitted into the timelines of revolution, war and politics.

At the end of the book, Avon gives a two-page “author insight,” where Robards describes the awe and respect she holds for Morisot and Manet, which led her to sketch a love story of what might have been. I’d have to say, she’s done a wonderful job, and I’ll look forward to reading more by her. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for more than your average romance, where relationships and the historical world are painted with breadth and depth, then I would certainly recommend you try With Violets by Elizabeth Robards. ( )