Villa E: Library Edition

by Jane Alison, Brigid Lohrey (narrator)

From the author of Meander, Spiral, Explode, an astounding novel inspired by the collision of Irish designer Eileen Gray and famed Swiss architect Le Corbusier.

Along the glittering coast of southern France, a white villa sits atop an earthen terrace-a site of artistic genius, now subject to bitter dispute. Eileen, a new architect known for her elegant chair designs, poured the concrete herself; she built it as a haven for her and her lover, and called it E-1027. When the hulking Le G, a founder of modernist architecture, laid eyes on the house in 1929, he could see his influence in the sleek lines-and he would not be outdone. Impassioned, he took a paintbrush to the clean, white walls . . .

Thirty years later, Eileen has not returned to Villa E and Le G has never left-his summers spent aging in a cabin just feet away. Mining the psyches of two brilliant, complex artists and the extraordinary place that bound them, Jane Alison boldly reimagines a now-legendary act of vandalism into a lushly poetic and mesmerizing novel of power, predation, and obsession.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, France, Art, Novels, Literature

Audio CD

Published August 6, 2024

About the author

Jane Alison (born 1961) is an Australian author.

Reviews

[Darwin8u · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Scratched several itches. Planning my trip to Villa E—1027 soon.

[Cherise Wolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this historical fiction - fictionalized? - novel mesmerizing. Being inside the minds of two different and aging, aged 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, 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 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.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

This isn't a book for everyone. Indeed, it isn't a book for most. It combines the pretentious of Modernism with the heresy of not being written during the 1930s or, at the very least, being a written by a white dude at any point in time. Do you want to know the real reason why I checked it out? Well, too bad, because I can tell you that it was because, as I said in a previous status update, this is the book that the patrons of my workplace would check out if they were a tenth of the underappreciated artist they collectively believe themselves to be. I also wanted to check in with the obsessiveness of my 20s over this exact kind of literature, before the white boy self adulation grew too much and I stopped buying what the rat race was selling. To my pleasure, I found a work that certainly wasn't as 'difficult' as it could have been had it spent one word for every four pulling in the sort of references an Eton College to Oxford pipeline education would afford, but was visceral as one could be while citing a history of, to me at least, two never before heard of artists feuding over one never before heard of house. Not the most promising of subjects, especially which my tendency to avoid domestic squabbles in every corner of my entertainment, and yet, Alison's touch with the motifs was sure, the characters were sharply rendered and subtly filled in, and by the time the conclusion came, the promises of the beginning were all fulfilled and I had began to see the worth in a drama that may have been drowned in childishness, but accurately rendered childishness in accordance with the full weight of the historical moment that, in the end, showed some measure of growth, or perhaps even redemption. Of course, there's my bias towards the bisexuality running rampant throughout, as well as the clear objective of historical reclamation: just compare the respective lengths of Eileen's (Eileen Gray's) and Le G's (Le Corbusier's) Wikipedia pages if you don't believe me. It got to the point that I would have given this a five star had it let me, but alas, the ending just didn't hit with the intensity of all that came before to grant me that privilege. Still, this really was a The Book of Salt moment, where should I come across the author out in the wild, I really will have to take her on on the strength of faith once again. It's not often a series of poor ratings promises a field ripe with potential, and it's always nice to discover my former training in the realms of literary inscrutability wasn't entirely misbegotten.

Seashells and bottles lift into the sky, their small round mouths open and singing.

[Kym · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Readingwithavengeance]

** DNF ** The choppy sentences, the stream of consciousness writing style... no, just no. I imagine if you have a familiarity with the designer and architect this story was based on, you may be interested. I was not. The South of France sounds beautiful though. I could probably get around with my eyes closed after all the driving route descriptions.

[Ericka Clou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like Jane Alison's execution of stream of consciousness narration. It didn't make me feel like I was organically inside the characters but trapped in the episode of The Office where Kevin decides to use the minimum number of words he considers necessary but leave everyone else thinking he's having a stroke. This book is how I became aware of the history of Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier, so the whole time I was wondering which parts have a basis in reality and was Le C really this big an asshole or is it imagination.

[Elliot A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Villa E in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist

I picked up Villa E expecting an atmospheric, emotionally rich novel. Jane Alison is known for her lyrical prose and experimental style, and the premise sounded promising: an architecturally stunning villa, layered timelines, and complicated relationships. On paper, it had everything I like—intellectual intrigue, sensual undertones, and an artful setting. In practice, it felt like wandering through a museum where nothing is labeled and the staff refuses to speak to you.

The Details

Let’s start with the prose. Alison clearly knows how to write beautiful sentences. There’s no shortage of lovely turns of phrase or carefully crafted metaphors. But after a while, the style becomes exhausting. The writing isn’t just dense—it’s overwrought. Sentences twist and spiral until they lose all meaning. Paragraphs stretch on without grounding the reader in anything solid. I kept waiting for clarity, for emotional connection, for something to snap into place. It never did.

The story itself drifts. Characters wander in and out, but none of them feel fully formed. Their motivations remain unclear, their relationships underdeveloped. I struggled to care about anyone, mostly because I couldn’t get a firm grasp on who they were or what they wanted. The book hints at drama and psychological depth, but those hints never lead anywhere. Instead, we get endless introspection with no real payoff.

The villa—presumably the novel’s central metaphor—should have been a powerful presence. It’s the stage for every major interaction, a symbol of desire and decay. But it remains abstract and sterile. I wanted to feel the villa’s weight, to smell its old stone walls, to see how its spaces shaped the characters who moved through it. That never happened. Alison intellectualizes the setting instead of animating it. The result is a place that never becomes real.

Even the sensuality feels bloodless. Alison gestures toward eroticism and emotional tension, but she holds everything at arm’s length. The desire is more theoretical than physical, more about observing than experiencing. It’s hard to invest in characters when they barely seem to feel anything themselves. When the story reaches its more intimate moments, they land with a dull thud. There’s no heat, no ache, no stakes.

Structurally, the novel tries to be innovative. It fragments time, layers memories, and plays with narrative rhythm. In theory, that could have created something dreamlike and haunting. In reality, it creates confusion. Scenes blur. Timelines tangle. The emotional throughline—if it exists at all—gets lost in the shuffle. I enjoy experimental fiction when it’s purposeful. Here, the form felt like a smokescreen for a story that wasn’t fully developed.

Reading Villa E felt like being trapped in a beautiful building with no windows. There’s elegance in the design, but no light, no warmth, no air. It looks good on the surface, but there’s nothing underneath. The novel wants to say something about desire, art, memory, and space, but it never gets there. It gestures. Hints. It circles. And then it ends.

The Verdict

I know some readers might admire the ambition or the style. If you’re drawn to books that challenge traditional storytelling and lean hard into aesthetic experimentation, this might appeal to you. But if you want characters with pulse, stakes that matter, or a story that invites you in instead of keeping you at a distance, Villa E will likely disappoint.

It certainly disappointed me.

[Robert Wechsler]

This is the second Jane Alison novel I’ve tasted and, as with the first, Nine Island, I’m glad I tasted it, but it just wasn’t for me. This time it was the clipped style that didn’t grab me.

[Albert Gidari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know the story when I bought the book. The fictionalized account of Eileen Gray's modernist house design in 1929 in Cap Martin and its defacement by Swiss architect and pseudo-artist Le Corbusier had all the potential to tell a great story, but honestly, the narrative was hard for me to follow or enjoy. In the end, I found a great summary of Gray's life and the house by the Royal Academy here: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/artic...

That said, others may enjoy the book and descriptions of Cap Martin and Menton certainly are evocative.

[Michaela Sheridan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story is written with a stream of consciousness style and many fragmented sentences. I see the author's vision, but it did not resonate with me. I seriously considered not finishing this book which would be saying something as I've never not completed a book before.

[Hannah Bodine · Rating 1 out of 5]

im sorry i may not have been intelligent enough or something for this book but it was a battle to finish it

it is written as thoughts basically which honestly just felt like reading some of my students’ writing

the men in this book were absolutely repulsive

eileen deserves better

[Abi Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very much not for me. It's partially narrated by a morally reprehensible and stinky old man described as having “goat toenails.” The character is based on real-life architect Le Corbusier, who must’ve really sucked for this little horror of a book to have been written about him.

[Melissa Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

For such a short book, it took me longer than usual to finish. But I do think I'll be down a rabbit hole regarding these 2 architects and compare their work to Frank Lloyd Wright.

"Along the glittering coast of southern France, a white villa sits atop an earthen terrace―a site of artistic genius, now subject to bitter dispute. Eileen, a new architect known for her elegant chair designs, poured the concrete herself; she built it as a haven for her and her lover, and called it E-1027. When the hulking Le G, a founder of modernist architecture, laid eyes on the house in 1929, he could see his influence in the sleek lines―and he would not be outdone. Impassioned, he took a paintbrush to the clean, white walls. . . . Thirty years later, Eileen has not returned to Villa E and Le G has never left―his summers spent aging in a cabin just feet away.

[Calia Booth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve never been compelled to write a review on good reads, but this book was so strange I just had to. And not strange in a good way. The prose was so difficult to track and understand, which is such a shame because the history behind the novel is so interesting. I found only 10-20 pages in total of this 172 page novel grabbed my attention. There was no story line. I understand that this was a stylistic choice, writing with a stream of consciousness, but there’s a way to do it to keep the reader engaged. I was not engaged. She could have achieved what she wanted in a short New Yorker piece and it would have been 5 stars vs. 2. This didn’t need to be a novel. It had no substance. And was so repetitive! It felt like she had truly nothing to say.

[Chris Bumgardner · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was an interesting contemporary piece. It had a lot of stream-of-consciousness
type writing (similar to Rooney) and was full of clever descriptors that I found satisfying.

Aside from the good writing, I didn't find the plot very engaging, but I think that's partly due to my age. People nearing the end of their life might find it more relatable.

[Ruth L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 60% This book is written in a stream of consciousness, and either this works for you or it doesn't. Well...

[callistoscalling · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Teddy · Rating 1 out of 5]

#goodreadsgiveaway nothing happens in this book so slowly which is weird because it’s also short? also they mention that guy is stinky so often

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geared toward a highly specific audience, but well worth a read if you’re in that group.

I’ll start by saying that this book requires some background knowledge about Eileen Gray and LeCorbusier (called Le Grand here). You don’t need to be an expert, but I can’t imagine getting much out of this book if you don’t know the story of Villa E 1027.

Modernist architecture is not my favorite (though infinitely better than what comes after it), but the story focuses more on the characters than the architecture itself. Normally that would not be my preference in a book like this, but I think it worked well here.

I found LeCorbusier’s chapters kind of hard to take as a reader, and it impacted my enjoyment of the book, especially in those sections where the author slips into trying to make him sympathetic. While we all contain multitudes and all that, Le Corbusier (while unquestionably talented) was not a good guy.

The horrific misogyny he exhibited both in the book and in real life makes him a deeply unsympathetic character, and I wonder if the book would have been a better read had all the narration come from Eileen’s perspective. There’s a valid argument that Le Corbusier here is no different from hearing the villain’s perspective in any novel, but I think it’s different when we’re talking about real people, and that feels especially poignant here.

Still, in the end it all felt like a worthy subject for a niche, odd novel, and the writing is thoughtful and lovely.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Sharon Mensing · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, but recognize that it is not for everyone. The writing is spare and has an unusual feel to it. At first I found it difficult to parse, but as I got into it I found the style perfect for the story. The author (Alison) manages to convey the emotional impact of Gray's and Le Corbusier's collision (not really a relationship) using non-emotional language. The plot swirls around in time from the 1920s to the 1960s in a way that captures the form of the art and architecture that is central. Alison's portrayal of Le Corbusier (Le G) gives us an entry into the egotistical male mind and sexualty of an artist fortunate enough to live in a time that supported and even celebrated his own self-regard. The author contrasts this with Gray's personality, which helped her attempt to morph Le G's work into something more feminine and serene. Alison's character development is very, very good, and I ended up feeling deeply about both characters (albeit in different ways). The setting on the French Riviera is beautifully portrayed, as well. Having finished the book, I am looking forward to doing some research on Le Corbusier and Gray -- I'm fascinated!

[Aaron Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book sets a clear premise and does nothing short of fulfilling that promise - delivering a story which is full of drama and genuine characters. An obsession with the past permeates the work, and this is made explicit in the cave paintings continuously referenced throughout, though I will say, this connection felt somewhat overt and didn’t add as much as the internal thoughts of Eilleen, Le Grand, and Bado. The acts of “collaboration” employed by Le Grand are described in such terrible detail that they seem tantamount to assault, and this interpretation makes reading these sections all the more difficult. The method of conveying internal monologues, though—while certainly genuine—did make some sections difficult in an unhelpful way. Overall, the book is about many things: the unconscious things we do for other people, the way our own creations define us, and what claims we have to those works.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Sofia Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Joel Gladstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know nothing of the models for this novel, Le Corbusier (toxic, needy, gargantuan, domineering, consumed with himself) and Eileen Gray (genius, doubting, hidden, longing), but the drama of their characters, particularly when they directly interact, their postures as artists in the best sense, and the interwar period of design and style is vividly rendered in lilting, poetic prose. The aging artists. Reminds of Cusk's Second Place. Interesting, offbeat novel. The villa is this defining and confronting work of art, the site of power that should be a site of peace, of joy, of life: his need to possess and the period conveying his privilege by virtue of his sex, his citizenship, and his history overwhelming her.

[Krenner1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a poet this book is five star. I am not, and although I enjoyed what I could make out of this story, it is engulfed in poetic language which makes it more obtuse and less engaging for me. Perhaps this is always this author’s style? This is the first of her books I’ve read. This one is about a woman who designs a home by the sea in France. The home gets much publicity and somehow is overtaken by a narcissistic, famous artist who feels he has every right to paint murals on the walls. The designer lives in a small cabin nearby and watches others occupy her house, including soldiers during the war who leave their bullet holes in walls as part of the home’s saga.

[Jody Hobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspired by a real villa and a real-life rivalry between innovative architects, the story wanders through time, always returning to the current arc where the rivals have returned to the coast of France for different reasons much later in life. Without slipping into spoilers, it's a maddening rivalry where the male rival leverages his acclaim to take ownership of a villa that the architect's then-lover and lesser architect had already managed to take credit for. A beautiful story, salvaging the true history of what must be a magnificent house.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I deeply enjoyed the almost stream of conciousness storytelling, the descriptors of environment, and memory, and the physical, and geographic. I loved the ephemeral telling of years long hurts and conflicts in the midst of art, love, and deep work.

This is one of the most interesting and enjoyable reads for me in the last 5 years. I understand some criticisms I’ve seen in other reviews. But sometimes the thing one person hates about a piece of art is the thing that someone else loves. This is that, both within the story, and as a reader. I need more books like this one.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

*SPOILERS*

I have never been happy for someone to die but I was almost ecstatic when Le G did, his character was so awful, a terrible man.

Honestly though, this was a tough read for me because the writing is so unique. At least compared to the books I typically read. But it is poetic with a stream of thoughts. It forced me to slow down, to re-read pages. But the descriptions were magnificent and the further along I got, the more enthralled I was with the book.

I don’t think it’s a book you could recommend to most but I would read it again, far in the future.

[Andrea George · Rating 2 out of 5]

As hard as I tried, I just could not get into "Villa E" by Jane Alison. As some of the other reviews had mentioned, it was quite choppy and hard to follow. The premise is good as it follows the lives of Irish designer, Eileen Gray and famed Swiss architect, Le Corbusier. The setting takes place at Villa E in the south of France. Others may like Jane Alison's style of writing and find this to be a worthwhile novel.

[Mark Healey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing reimagining of the life of Eileen Gray and her entanglement with Le Corbusier, here imagined and persuasively narrated as a thoroughly repulsive character. A highly charged psychohistory of the villa she built with her lover Bado and how Le Cornusier admired, envied, and then defaced it. An atmospheric account but an intriguing fictional way to write about and inhabit architecture.