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Madame Solario (Domaine Etranger)
Sur le célébrissime lac de Côme, en Italie, dans un hôtel 1900, des aristocrates cosmopolites s'adonnent aux joies électives de la villégiature et de l'entre-soi.
Un jeune couple, qui irradie la beauté et le mystère, va mettre à mal l'ordonnancement de cette bonne société. Natalia, la jeune et jolie veuve d'un richissime marchand. Et son frère, Eugène Ardent, qui la rejoint à Côme après des années de séparation. Les deux personnages sont liés par un terrible mystère: violée par son beau-père, Natalia a été vengée par son frère, qui a blessé au pistolet l'auteur du forfait. Le jeune homme est contraint à un long exil. A l'heure où ils se retrouvent, privés de fortune, leur amour éclate. Ils décident d'user de leur pouvoir de séduction pour suborner la bonne société qui les entoure et en obtenir les faveurs.
Véritable enquête policière perçant enfin l'anonymat de l'auteur de Madame Solario, la préface de Bernard Cohen lève le voile sur la personnalité restée longtemps mystérieuse de l'écrivain qui a publié en 1956 ce roman, salué alors par une critique unanime comme un événement littéraire d'une exceptionnelle importance et dont Marguerite Yourcenar avait fait son livre de chevet. La presse américaine avait parlé d'une "Françoise Sagan mâtinée d'Henry James", et un critique australien crut détecter la plume d'un Anglais de 75 ans, tandis qu'une psychanalyste, Nata Minor, allait hasarder l'hypothèse que l'auteur n'était autre que Winston Churchill. La vérité, si elle est moins romanesque, est tout aussi dramatique: Gladys Huntington s'est suicidée deux ans après la sortie de ce best-seller qui a marqué plusieurs générations.
Un jeune couple, qui irradie la beauté et le mystère, va mettre à mal l'ordonnancement de cette bonne société. Natalia, la jeune et jolie veuve d'un richissime marchand. Et son frère, Eugène Ardent, qui la rejoint à Côme après des années de séparation. Les deux personnages sont liés par un terrible mystère: violée par son beau-père, Natalia a été vengée par son frère, qui a blessé au pistolet l'auteur du forfait. Le jeune homme est contraint à un long exil. A l'heure où ils se retrouvent, privés de fortune, leur amour éclate. Ils décident d'user de leur pouvoir de séduction pour suborner la bonne société qui les entoure et en obtenir les faveurs.
Véritable enquête policière perçant enfin l'anonymat de l'auteur de Madame Solario, la préface de Bernard Cohen lève le voile sur la personnalité restée longtemps mystérieuse de l'écrivain qui a publié en 1956 ce roman, salué alors par une critique unanime comme un événement littéraire d'une exceptionnelle importance et dont Marguerite Yourcenar avait fait son livre de chevet. La presse américaine avait parlé d'une "Françoise Sagan mâtinée d'Henry James", et un critique australien crut détecter la plume d'un Anglais de 75 ans, tandis qu'une psychanalyste, Nata Minor, allait hasarder l'hypothèse que l'auteur n'était autre que Winston Churchill. La vérité, si elle est moins romanesque, est tout aussi dramatique: Gladys Huntington s'est suicidée deux ans après la sortie de ce best-seller qui a marqué plusieurs générations.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
About the author
Gladys Huntington
1 bookGladys Huntington née Parrish (1887-1959) was born in Philadelphia to a wealthy Quaker family which lived, variously, in New York, Paris, London, Biarritz, Rome, and a villa on Lake Como.
She married Constant Huntington of Boston, who had moved to London to open the London office of the publisher Putnam's; the couple lived in Hyde Park Gardens, where their daughter Alfreda was born in 1922, and after at Amberley House in Sussex.
A novel, Carfrae's Comedy, was published in 1915, and a play, Barton's Folly, was produced in London ten years later. The bestselling Madame Solario (1956), set on Lake Como in 1906, was begun in 1944 but only finished after two short stories appeared in The New Yorker; its publication was anonymous, the author's name not being revealed until 1986; it was translated into seven languages.
She married Constant Huntington of Boston, who had moved to London to open the London office of the publisher Putnam's; the couple lived in Hyde Park Gardens, where their daughter Alfreda was born in 1922, and after at Amberley House in Sussex.
A novel, Carfrae's Comedy, was published in 1915, and a play, Barton's Folly, was produced in London ten years later. The bestselling Madame Solario (1956), set on Lake Como in 1906, was begun in 1944 but only finished after two short stories appeared in The New Yorker; its publication was anonymous, the author's name not being revealed until 1986; it was translated into seven languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
June 8, 2023
Tras terminar su lectura, no puedo dejar de pensar que gran parte del éxito que tuvo este libro en su momento se debió a todo el barullo que se montó en torno a él y que es precisamente lo que más se resalta en esas pocas reseñas que están recogidas en la web de la propia editorial: una novela escrita por una mujer en la que aparece el incesto, el suicidio, el adulterio, la inmoralidad o amoralidad, la corrupción y la endogamia que sostenía aquella indolente alta sociedad de primeros de siglo. La obra no fue editada hasta cuarenta años después de que fuera escrita y su autoría no se llega a conocer hasta un buen puñado de años más tarde.
Esas reseñas, que parecen partir todas de la misma mano, resaltan los mismos aspectos: un mundo a punto de desaparecer, el canto del cisne de la aristocracia europea, referencias al Gatopardo, a Henry James, citas al encendido comentario elogioso que Marguerite Yourcenar hizo de la novela, que si obra maestra, que si novela de culto... A todo ello añaden un poco de su trama y un mucho de la vida de la autora y reseña al canto.
¿Qué opino yo de la novela? Resumiendo, la primera parte y casi toda la tercera me han parecido notables. La segunda, con un brusco cambio de estilo narrativo, más deslucido y confuso, enfrió significativamente mi entusiasmo. Las trascendentales escenas finales de la segunda y tercera parte me han parecido, por no cargar mucho las tintas, mejorables.
El principio de la novela promete. Una prosa muy de principios de siglo, elegante, morosa, detallista, con esos personajes tan educaditos, tan sujetos a protocolos, etiquetas, ataduras; con esos individuos e individuas tan clasistas, tan políglotas, tan ociosos, tan peinaditos, tan de mano que se deja desmalladamente en la superficie del agua del lago Como y que forma una levísima estela mientras la tarde declina lentamente entre el sonido que hacen los remos en las chumaceras. Y un personaje principal, Madame Solario, que, a través de los ojos de un joven enamorado en la distancia, nos llega enmarcada entre un misterioso y deslumbrante encanto y una sospecha de mujer manipuladora y fatal.
En la segunda parte el estilo de la prosa se vuelve deslucido, atropellado, con cambios bruscos en el hilo narrativo, escenas confusas, diálogos que parecen inacabados o incompletos o que simplemente se nos hurtan y la información que nos proporciona, y que es la función que desarrolla en la obra esta segunda parte, nos llega de forma fragmentada y no siempre clara. Ya no es el enamorado Middleton quien nos guía, sino el hermano de Madame Solario, un personaje este que, para ser un nuevo Vizconde de Valmont, que es lo que parece pretender, le falta inteligencia, madurez y perversidad, al mismo tiempo que le sobra rabia, impaciencia y una más que sobrevalorada estimación de sus capacidades.
En la tercera parte el relato vuelve a la lentitud de la primera, aunque esa mano desmayada que dejaba la estela en el agua ahora trajina nerviosa y descuidada, aunque apenas lo parezca, en el arreglo de su pelo, mientras los ojos ora se pierden en la lejanía, ora acechan y temen cualquier movimiento extraño, conformando una atmósfera de tensa y permanente espera. Una espera a la que le llega su recompensa, aunque esta esté muy alejada de la calidad que gran parte del relato prometía. Tanto la escena final del libro como otra, también trascendental, en el final de la segunda parte, me parecen muy deficientes, dejando un sabor agridulce en el lector, al menos en el que suscribe estas palabras.
November 1, 2018
This was hard going, especially the middle section, which was the same thing round and round. It's a story of social manners and intrigue amongst upper class (and middle) holiday makers in a hotel on lake Como at the beginning of the twentieth century. It revolves around Madame Solario who we really never get to know, but we hear (at length) about the men who fall in love with her.
I've read a few other Persephone books which I've loved. I wouldn't recommend this one.
I've read a few other Persephone books which I've loved. I wouldn't recommend this one.
November 5, 2021
Dreamlike, but with a vein of passion and violence cutting through it - this under-known novel is a gem. Part Gatsby, part D.H. Lawrence, the peek into summer society at a picturesque Italian lake is itself transmitted through innuendo and gossipy snatches of conversation that might hit your ear on an evening breeze. Stumbling through his stay at the luxury hotel is the young Englishman Bernard Middleton, sent off for a nice continental vacation after graduating from college and before he is to begin a life of drudgery as a bank clerk, a profession of his parents' choosing. While Middleton susses out who's who in this wealthy enclave - the Hungarian royalty, the Roman elites, the rowdy Americans, and his stuffy countrymen - Mme Solario, a woman of uncertain history, arrives to charm him and change him. Middleton's gentlemanly innocence somehow touches her silent crystalline pain, but what might develop into romance is rudely interrupted by the arrival of her long-estranged brother Eugene, and further disturbed by her unseemly connections to an Italian nobleman and the dark Count Kovanski. This second of three parts, in which Middleton is largely abandoned to follow Madame and Eugene's unnerving process of becoming reacquainted, as well as Eugene's vengeful plots to raise his social standing, are the weakest sections. Still, the author (anonymous at the time of its writing) presents numerous lake outings and balls and card games and walks in the woods to create diversions. As the third part kicks in, Middleton is back in the center of the action, still lusting after Madame Solorio, though no matter how close they may be the sick sense of unrequitedness penetrates every glance and every word exchanged in the final chapters. The reader is left knowing little more of what's actually transpired at the end, but the overwhelming beauty and sensitivity of how the story is told is the true value of this literary masterpiece.
December 9, 2018
0,5 estrellas
A Favoritos del 2018
Personalmente me ha parecido una gran novela. No pretendo extenderme en la reseña. Solo puedo destacar que se tocan temas muy delicados como el incesto, homicidio "frustrado" y suicidio, y que causaron en su momento gran escándalo en los lectores de la épcoca del 50´, fecha que vio la luz. Una novela que toca temas amorales e impensables en la alta sociedad cosmopolita de la Belle Epoque. Dicen que Gladys Huntington se inspiró en las obras de Henry James en cuanto a los perfiles psicológicos. A mí también me lo pareció, aunque tambien puedo aportar que tiene bastante de Proust y Thomas Mann.
Considerada obra maestra por Marguerite Yourcenar.
"La vio destacarse contra la oscuridad que rodeaba el espacio bajo el toldo y, pese a su ebriedad, sintió lo que siempre sentía cuando la veía y el momento en que de repente - Siempre era de repente - aparecía ante sus ojos".
A Favoritos del 2018
Personalmente me ha parecido una gran novela. No pretendo extenderme en la reseña. Solo puedo destacar que se tocan temas muy delicados como el incesto, homicidio "frustrado" y suicidio, y que causaron en su momento gran escándalo en los lectores de la épcoca del 50´, fecha que vio la luz. Una novela que toca temas amorales e impensables en la alta sociedad cosmopolita de la Belle Epoque. Dicen que Gladys Huntington se inspiró en las obras de Henry James en cuanto a los perfiles psicológicos. A mí también me lo pareció, aunque tambien puedo aportar que tiene bastante de Proust y Thomas Mann.
Considerada obra maestra por Marguerite Yourcenar.
"La vio destacarse contra la oscuridad que rodeaba el espacio bajo el toldo y, pese a su ebriedad, sintió lo que siempre sentía cuando la veía y el momento en que de repente - Siempre era de repente - aparecía ante sus ojos".
July 30, 2018
It is rare that an unread Persephone in my possession stays that way for more than a week, but number 120, Gladys Huntington's Madame Solario, has been sitting on my to-read shelf for over a year. I have been looking for just the right kind of sultry summer's day on which to read it, when I would be able to devote a whole day to becoming fully immersed in the novel. I finally found it in late July, on an unusually beautiful and cloudless day in Scotland, and settled down with another beautifully designed Persephone novel.
Huntington began to write Madame Solario in 1944, but only finished it after two of her short stories were published in The New Yorker. The novel was eventually published anonymously in 1956, and Huntington's name was surprisingly not revealed as its author until thirty years afterwards. Madame Solario was a bestseller upon its publication, and has been made into a film.
Madame Solario is set during the month of September 1906, on the banks of Italy's Lake Como. Its beginning is sumptuous, and wonderfully sets the scene: 'In the early years of the century, before the First World War, Cadenabbia on the Lake of Como was a fashionable resort for the month of September. Its vogue was easy to explain. There was the almost excessive beauty of the winding lake surrounded by mountains, the shores gemmed with golden-yellow villages and classical villas standing among cypress trees; and the head of the lake lay close to the routes that connected Italy with all the capitals of Western and Central Europe, yet Cadenabbia itself was difficult to reach, which was an added charm. Long stretches of the lovely shore were without high road of any kind, and are arrived by the little steamboat that started at Como and shuttled back and forth across the lake, calling at one dreaming place after another in a journey of incredible slowness. It was wonderful to arrive. As no wheels ever passed, there were no sounds except human voices, the click of the peasants' wooden pattens, and the lapping of waves.' There is a strong sense of place throughout, and whilst not all of the descriptions are as breathtaking as the above, they have a layering to them which is fascinating to read.
It is in Cadenabbia, at the Hotel Bellevue, that young Englishman Bernard Middleton is spending the summer, between finishing his Oxford degree and being sent to work in his family's bank in a northern English town. Soon after Bernard's arrival, a previous guest of the hotel, Madame Natalia Solario, comes back. Throughout the novel, she is a mysterious being; others who are staying in the hotel, and who met her previously, are unable to pinpoint her nationality when asked. Madame Solario is quick and impulsive, and Bernard is drawn to her immediately.
Huntington's character descriptions are unusual, particularly when taking Madame Solario as her focus. She writes: 'In those days the great, equalising power of cosmetics and beautifying inventions had not yet been let loose, and Madame Solario's complexion and colouring, and the arc of her eyebrows, and the wave of her hair... were not being counterfeited by everyone who wished; they were rare, like noble birth. The high rank of her beauty had to be met with something of awe.' Although Huntington tries to pull Madame Solario apart, layer by layer, she remains a shadowy and unknowable figure throughout; I felt little more familiar with her when the novel ended as I did at its beginning. We are given clues and hints as to her past and a particular scandal which surrounds her as the novel goes on, but sometimes these raised more questions than the novel answers. There is an almost oppressive feeling which comes when Huntington focuses so intently upon the emotions of her characters, particularly with regard to Madame Solario and Bernard. Huntington does, however, have such an awareness of human character throughout; her insights are often profound and memorable ones.
Madame Solario is quite an unusual novel. I felt rather detached from it throughout, and found the second section, which is largely occupied with recounting conversations between Madame Solario and her brother, Eugene Harden, too long and involved. The second part of the novel, in fact, feels very different, both with regard to its tone and execution. The sense of place, which is so beautifully depicted elsewhere, is almost forgotten during this rather lengthy section of the novel, and Bernard is entirely lost, with only a couple of nods to his character throughout. This part was rather too drawn out; whilst the conversations were lengthy, not a lot was actually said, and it began to feel repetitive after a while.
Madame Solario is not at all a predictable read; I truly had no idea whatsoever regarding its direction. As with Madame Solario herself, there is a quality of mystery about it. Madame Solario is a cleverly constructed novel of identity, and what it means to be human. I did find it problematic in places, and to me, it did not have the feel of a traditional Persephone novel. Unfortunately, I never fully got into the story, or became entirely invested in any of its characters. Whilst not my favourite of the Persephone list, it is still a story which I will likely be thinking about for a long time to come.
Huntington began to write Madame Solario in 1944, but only finished it after two of her short stories were published in The New Yorker. The novel was eventually published anonymously in 1956, and Huntington's name was surprisingly not revealed as its author until thirty years afterwards. Madame Solario was a bestseller upon its publication, and has been made into a film.
Madame Solario is set during the month of September 1906, on the banks of Italy's Lake Como. Its beginning is sumptuous, and wonderfully sets the scene: 'In the early years of the century, before the First World War, Cadenabbia on the Lake of Como was a fashionable resort for the month of September. Its vogue was easy to explain. There was the almost excessive beauty of the winding lake surrounded by mountains, the shores gemmed with golden-yellow villages and classical villas standing among cypress trees; and the head of the lake lay close to the routes that connected Italy with all the capitals of Western and Central Europe, yet Cadenabbia itself was difficult to reach, which was an added charm. Long stretches of the lovely shore were without high road of any kind, and are arrived by the little steamboat that started at Como and shuttled back and forth across the lake, calling at one dreaming place after another in a journey of incredible slowness. It was wonderful to arrive. As no wheels ever passed, there were no sounds except human voices, the click of the peasants' wooden pattens, and the lapping of waves.' There is a strong sense of place throughout, and whilst not all of the descriptions are as breathtaking as the above, they have a layering to them which is fascinating to read.
It is in Cadenabbia, at the Hotel Bellevue, that young Englishman Bernard Middleton is spending the summer, between finishing his Oxford degree and being sent to work in his family's bank in a northern English town. Soon after Bernard's arrival, a previous guest of the hotel, Madame Natalia Solario, comes back. Throughout the novel, she is a mysterious being; others who are staying in the hotel, and who met her previously, are unable to pinpoint her nationality when asked. Madame Solario is quick and impulsive, and Bernard is drawn to her immediately.
Huntington's character descriptions are unusual, particularly when taking Madame Solario as her focus. She writes: 'In those days the great, equalising power of cosmetics and beautifying inventions had not yet been let loose, and Madame Solario's complexion and colouring, and the arc of her eyebrows, and the wave of her hair... were not being counterfeited by everyone who wished; they were rare, like noble birth. The high rank of her beauty had to be met with something of awe.' Although Huntington tries to pull Madame Solario apart, layer by layer, she remains a shadowy and unknowable figure throughout; I felt little more familiar with her when the novel ended as I did at its beginning. We are given clues and hints as to her past and a particular scandal which surrounds her as the novel goes on, but sometimes these raised more questions than the novel answers. There is an almost oppressive feeling which comes when Huntington focuses so intently upon the emotions of her characters, particularly with regard to Madame Solario and Bernard. Huntington does, however, have such an awareness of human character throughout; her insights are often profound and memorable ones.
Madame Solario is quite an unusual novel. I felt rather detached from it throughout, and found the second section, which is largely occupied with recounting conversations between Madame Solario and her brother, Eugene Harden, too long and involved. The second part of the novel, in fact, feels very different, both with regard to its tone and execution. The sense of place, which is so beautifully depicted elsewhere, is almost forgotten during this rather lengthy section of the novel, and Bernard is entirely lost, with only a couple of nods to his character throughout. This part was rather too drawn out; whilst the conversations were lengthy, not a lot was actually said, and it began to feel repetitive after a while.
Madame Solario is not at all a predictable read; I truly had no idea whatsoever regarding its direction. As with Madame Solario herself, there is a quality of mystery about it. Madame Solario is a cleverly constructed novel of identity, and what it means to be human. I did find it problematic in places, and to me, it did not have the feel of a traditional Persephone novel. Unfortunately, I never fully got into the story, or became entirely invested in any of its characters. Whilst not my favourite of the Persephone list, it is still a story which I will likely be thinking about for a long time to come.
June 30, 2017
Madame Solario -- mysterious Madam Solario! A woman attempting to flee her questionable past, she had mastered the art of being both desirable and untouchable. The story, set in 1906 at an Italian villa filled with wealthy patrons, has a dreamy quality, evoking the leisurely lifestyle at the villa. The characters are enticing and eccentric. The writing is masterful -- few words, well chosen, describe people, landscapes, events.
Following its publication in 1956, this novel was hailed by critics as a work of art. It became a best-seller and was translated into nine languages. The decision of the author to remain anonymous added to the mystique surrounding the story. Her identity was finally revealed in 1986 but few details can be found on the internet about her life. Sadly, her death by suicide in 1959 has deprived the reading public of her great talent.
The book has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity following a film adaptation in 2012 and subsequent reprint by Persephone Books.
Following its publication in 1956, this novel was hailed by critics as a work of art. It became a best-seller and was translated into nine languages. The decision of the author to remain anonymous added to the mystique surrounding the story. Her identity was finally revealed in 1986 but few details can be found on the internet about her life. Sadly, her death by suicide in 1959 has deprived the reading public of her great talent.
The book has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity following a film adaptation in 2012 and subsequent reprint by Persephone Books.
September 14, 2025
Tengo sentimientos encontrados respecto a este libro: la autora escribe bien, escribe bonito. La primera parte me ha encantado y gran parte de la tercera también, aunque no toda. La segunda es, como ya han dicho otros lectores, muy diferente y se alarga demasiado, hay en ella revelaciones importantes pero acaba cansando por repetitiva.
Aparte de eso, me parece que son demasiadas las cosas que no se dicen y que el lector debe interpretar por sí mismo sin estar seguro de si lo está haciendo correctamente o no. Sería un buen libro para una lectura conjunta o un club de lectura porque seguro que surgirían interpretaciones muy diferentes.
Aparte de eso, me parece que son demasiadas las cosas que no se dicen y que el lector debe interpretar por sí mismo sin estar seguro de si lo está haciendo correctamente o no. Sería un buen libro para una lectura conjunta o un club de lectura porque seguro que surgirían interpretaciones muy diferentes.
May 29, 2017
Madame Solario is strangely compelling, the reader can’t help but be drawn into the intense relationships which slowly develop between a large group of mainly Europeans on the shores of Lake Como. It is a world painted exquisitely by the author – who herself would have experienced something very similar as a young girl, holidaying with her family on Lake Como.
Set in Cadenabbia on Lake Como in September 1906, Madame Solario transports us instantly to another world – a world of European and American high society, a lakeside retreat, shuttered villas, picnics, polite conversation and whispered scandal.
The novel is divided into three sections, the first and third sections told from the view point of Bernard Middleton, who we meet on page 2 – a nice, young Englishman in whose company we feel instantly at ease. He is young, his experiences of the word so far have done little to prepare him for the unspoken passions, and complexities he finds himself in the midst of.
“‘I don’t know what your studies have been, but you may know that geologists speak of faults when they mean weaknesses in the crust of the earth that cause earthquakes and subsidences.”
Having pulled on his gloves he was energetically buttoning them.
“And I will tell you something out of my own experience. There are people like ‘faults’, who are a weakness in the fabric of society; there is disturbance and disaster wherever they are.” He gave Bernard a fierce look beneath his bristling eyebrows.
‘Young man, go away from! Get on to solid ground as soon as you can.’”
The middle section – (I shall come to that again later) Bernard retreats from view, and my one minor quibble with this novel is that this section is longer than it need be. Bernard has recently finished at Oxford, destined for a career in banking – a career arranged for him, and one he doesn’t look forward to. A few weeks on Lake Como is a kind of compensation for the dull years ahead. Supposed to be meeting up with a friend, who having fallen ill can no longer come, Bernard is on his own, experiencing grown up society for the first time. Clustered around Bernard, at this society retreat are members of the American and European elite, British, Italian, Russian and Hungarian society are represented. Bernard is drawn to Ilona Zapponyi, daughter of a countess, but Ilona has had her heart broken by Kovanski, and the Zapponyi’s leave quickly. Bernard realises that Kovanski is at the hotel in pursuit of the mysterious Madame Solario, still young and beautiful – who arrives amid disturbing rumours of her past. Whispers of a terrible scandal within her family, leading to her being married off to her much older South American husband – only where is he now? And what happened to her brother who disappeared around the same time?
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...
Set in Cadenabbia on Lake Como in September 1906, Madame Solario transports us instantly to another world – a world of European and American high society, a lakeside retreat, shuttered villas, picnics, polite conversation and whispered scandal.
The novel is divided into three sections, the first and third sections told from the view point of Bernard Middleton, who we meet on page 2 – a nice, young Englishman in whose company we feel instantly at ease. He is young, his experiences of the word so far have done little to prepare him for the unspoken passions, and complexities he finds himself in the midst of.
“‘I don’t know what your studies have been, but you may know that geologists speak of faults when they mean weaknesses in the crust of the earth that cause earthquakes and subsidences.”
Having pulled on his gloves he was energetically buttoning them.
“And I will tell you something out of my own experience. There are people like ‘faults’, who are a weakness in the fabric of society; there is disturbance and disaster wherever they are.” He gave Bernard a fierce look beneath his bristling eyebrows.
‘Young man, go away from! Get on to solid ground as soon as you can.’”
The middle section – (I shall come to that again later) Bernard retreats from view, and my one minor quibble with this novel is that this section is longer than it need be. Bernard has recently finished at Oxford, destined for a career in banking – a career arranged for him, and one he doesn’t look forward to. A few weeks on Lake Como is a kind of compensation for the dull years ahead. Supposed to be meeting up with a friend, who having fallen ill can no longer come, Bernard is on his own, experiencing grown up society for the first time. Clustered around Bernard, at this society retreat are members of the American and European elite, British, Italian, Russian and Hungarian society are represented. Bernard is drawn to Ilona Zapponyi, daughter of a countess, but Ilona has had her heart broken by Kovanski, and the Zapponyi’s leave quickly. Bernard realises that Kovanski is at the hotel in pursuit of the mysterious Madame Solario, still young and beautiful – who arrives amid disturbing rumours of her past. Whispers of a terrible scandal within her family, leading to her being married off to her much older South American husband – only where is he now? And what happened to her brother who disappeared around the same time?
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...
July 21, 2018
A beautifully typeset and elegantly bound Persephone always tempts me to buy, especially when it's set on Lake Como. But this one turned out to be one I finished largely because I bought it. Huntington does some memorable scenes, particularly an important train journey by night. However, the long middle section, in which the fairly sympathetic perspective of Middleton is replaced by the repetitive manipulations of the odious Harden, was just about unbearable. The marmoreal Madame Solario is perhaps meant to be less a person than a sacrifice a being emptied of self by the obsessive gazes of those around her. I can kind of fathom that aesthetically, but I wasn't loving it.
July 30, 2018
Gladys Huntington (who published this anonymously) brings innocence, beauty, and a sense of menace to her depiction of an international mixture of moneyed visitors in the idyllic setting of an Italian lake in one September before the First World War.
Definitely had its powerful moments, but it seemed to take me forever to read. I found it slow and couldn't work up much sympathy for the excessively passive Natalia/Nelly/Ellen Solario. It might have just been the wrong book at the wrong time.
Definitely had its powerful moments, but it seemed to take me forever to read. I found it slow and couldn't work up much sympathy for the excessively passive Natalia/Nelly/Ellen Solario. It might have just been the wrong book at the wrong time.
May 16, 2021
This is one of those books that I wish I had read alongside someone else. I completely understand the mainly ambivalent reviews but I couldn’t help feeling that that there was a hint of genius about it - even though I’m not entirely sure how. Plenty of (valid I think) comparisons have been made to authors like Henry James and Edith Wharton but I would also throw in a bit of Highsmith and even a dose of Anna Karenina.
The descriptions of the characters languid existence at Lake Como are absolutely exquisite (although not for you if you don’t enjoy long, detailed descriptions of lunches and boat trips where no one says what they actually mean), but as the book progresses the sense of dread and of something deeply unpleasant beneath the surface, grows stronger and stronger. As others have written the middle section probably does drag in comparison to the others but it’s certainly that section that drives the feeling of discomfort.
Fundamentally this is the story of beauty, infatuation and deeply damaged individuals, but very, very little of this is actually spoken - and little of it (although eventually obvious) is actually resolved. It’s not a book I could urge everyone to read as it’s fairly clear that is doesn’t work for many (and at 500 pages in length it takes some commitment) but it really surprised me and I suspect it will stay with me.
The descriptions of the characters languid existence at Lake Como are absolutely exquisite (although not for you if you don’t enjoy long, detailed descriptions of lunches and boat trips where no one says what they actually mean), but as the book progresses the sense of dread and of something deeply unpleasant beneath the surface, grows stronger and stronger. As others have written the middle section probably does drag in comparison to the others but it’s certainly that section that drives the feeling of discomfort.
Fundamentally this is the story of beauty, infatuation and deeply damaged individuals, but very, very little of this is actually spoken - and little of it (although eventually obvious) is actually resolved. It’s not a book I could urge everyone to read as it’s fairly clear that is doesn’t work for many (and at 500 pages in length it takes some commitment) but it really surprised me and I suspect it will stay with me.
October 15, 2016
As mentioned in a previous update I received this as an ARC from Persephone Books. Today I finished it. And, I highly recommend it. It is a story that sticks with you that you want to finish right away. I have a much fuller review on my book blog: http://quirkyreader.livejournal.com/4...
Try and find a copy when you can.
Try and find a copy when you can.
March 7, 2020
It's a hauntingly beautiful book. My colleague gave this book to me when he cleared his house, he said he didn't have the patience to read it. Hardly 2 things happens in the whole story, but the description is so mesmerising, I read random pages every now and then.
January 30, 2022
Bizarrely haunting. I was annoyed by how little I learnt, but also appreciate that that was probably Huntington's intent.
June 23, 2023
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me ha trasladado la lectura de #MadameSolario a esas comedias palatinas que no palaciegas que escribía el señor lope de vega allá por el siglo de oro rivalizando con Calderón y sus sueños. Y es que la protagonista que da nombre a la novela bien podría ser la Diana de #elperrodelhortelano salvando las distancias temporales y sociales. Pero vayamos al grano. Aquí la acción no transcurre en un palacio far away sino que el follón, porque está novela es un follón de los buenos, se sitúa próxima al lago Como en Italia. Allí un nutrido grupo de personajes de la alta sociedad y del dolce far niente se dan su cita veraniega para pasarlo bien. Así sin más. Las jóvenes galantean con otros jóvenes de su edad, montan en barca, hacen fiestas de disfraces y de bailes... que si no te lo pasas bien es porque no quieres. Pero a la villa llegarán dos personas que destacan por encima de las demás. Hablamos de Natalia o Nelly o mejor Madame Solario y de Bernard. Que podrían ser Jack y Rose en el titanic. Cuando leáis la novela entenderéis esta atrevida reflexión. Pero para que exista la discordia nos hace falta uno más. Aquí entra en escena Kovanski un ruso que viene de pasarlo muy mal y busca consuelo en aquel maravilloso paraje. Y hasta aquí se podría decir que ya sabemos como irá la trama : Bernard y Madame Solario se enamoran, como jack y rose, Kovanski lo pasa mal porque obvio ama a Madame Solario en silencio porque anteriormente tuvieron un pequeño affaire, pero de esos que nunca se superan. Pero esto no ha hecho más que empezar. Acabas de subir a lo más alto de la montaña rusa y ahora es cuando vienen las curvas. Mándame Solario como buena dama es tremendamente discreta y esconde muchos secretos. El primero de ellos es que tiene un hermano que acaba de llegar a la villa a exigirle todo lo que se le debe. ¿Pero que puede deber una dama como Madame Solario? Pues según Harder restituir su propio honor que fue ultrajado cuando ella se interpuso entre su madre, la madre de ambos, y su padrastro!!! La novela avanza revelando secretos y puntillitas sobre la protagonista de la que pensamos que ni tan buena ni tan santa porque apenas se defiende de estas acusaciones. Y si no se defiende por algo será, no? Además su hermano no sólo quiere su honor sino ser un bonvivant en toda regla. Y para eso necesita la ayuda de su hermana. Y ahora como si la novela se transformase en una obra de teatro las luces se vuelven tenues y la acción avanza entre los susurro de los hermanos en la habitación de ella. El plan es engañar a esa panda de ricos y sacarles los cuartos. Ellos merecen vivir mejor y exige a su hermana que el plan avance. Debe casarse con Kovanski para apaciguar sus celos pero no dejar de lado tampoco a ese conde de edad avanzada que la corteja. Entre todo este acto el resto de los personajes parecen inmóviles e incluso Bernard desaparece de la escena . Pero algo turba a Madame Solario y cuando el plan está avanzado pero con el temor a que haga aguas por todos lados ella busca a Bernard y se dan a la fuga. ¡Si! De repente la acción se vuelve vertiginosa, y el lector mismo va cogiendo barcas y trenes vigilando su espalda para confirmar que nadie los siga hasta Milán. Bernard lo ha dejado todo por ella sabiendo que en menos de Veinticuatro horas su padre lo espera en Inglaterra para comenzar a trabajar. Y él esta allí en algún punto de Milán sin saber que hacer ni que decir porque Madame Solario es mutismo total. Pero la cosa no va a mejorar porque a Milán llegan Kovanski y el hermano de Solario. Se masca la tragedia. Porque cuando los celos y el dinero ocupan la escena el final es inmediato y no bueno. Kovanski organiza una cena para los cuatro comensales y pondrán todas las cartas sobre la mesa como medio revelador de la personalidad de cada uno. Kovanski volverá a suplicar el amor de Madame Solario, Harder se presentará como la víctima de demasiados embrollos, Bernard intentará mediar entre todas las partes y Madame Solario, impertérrita, aguanta el chaparrón como puede. Pero hacen un juramento. Un juramento ruso y eso va a misa. El que jura cumple. Y confían en la palabra de Madame Solario. Pero a estas alturas ¿alguien conoce a esta señora? Impecables vestidos, pelo perfecto, tez satinada, buenos modales pero... ¿alguien sabe lo que ocurre en el corazón de Madame Solario?. Hay una promesa y la espera de que la noche de paso al día. Bernard confía en que todo se arreglará y podrá volver a casa aunque jamás podrá olvidarla pero.... una nota del director del hotel donde se alojan los cuatro le revela que la promesa hecha se ha roto. Madame Solario lo ha vuelto a hacer llevándoselo todo de nuevo a su paso. Ahora solo cabe pensar en el pobre Kovanski y en ese perro que ni comía ni dejaba comer...
me ha trasladado la lectura de #MadameSolario a esas comedias palatinas que no palaciegas que escribía el señor lope de vega allá por el siglo de oro rivalizando con Calderón y sus sueños. Y es que la protagonista que da nombre a la novela bien podría ser la Diana de #elperrodelhortelano salvando las distancias temporales y sociales. Pero vayamos al grano. Aquí la acción no transcurre en un palacio far away sino que el follón, porque está novela es un follón de los buenos, se sitúa próxima al lago Como en Italia. Allí un nutrido grupo de personajes de la alta sociedad y del dolce far niente se dan su cita veraniega para pasarlo bien. Así sin más. Las jóvenes galantean con otros jóvenes de su edad, montan en barca, hacen fiestas de disfraces y de bailes... que si no te lo pasas bien es porque no quieres. Pero a la villa llegarán dos personas que destacan por encima de las demás. Hablamos de Natalia o Nelly o mejor Madame Solario y de Bernard. Que podrían ser Jack y Rose en el titanic. Cuando leáis la novela entenderéis esta atrevida reflexión. Pero para que exista la discordia nos hace falta uno más. Aquí entra en escena Kovanski un ruso que viene de pasarlo muy mal y busca consuelo en aquel maravilloso paraje. Y hasta aquí se podría decir que ya sabemos como irá la trama : Bernard y Madame Solario se enamoran, como jack y rose, Kovanski lo pasa mal porque obvio ama a Madame Solario en silencio porque anteriormente tuvieron un pequeño affaire, pero de esos que nunca se superan. Pero esto no ha hecho más que empezar. Acabas de subir a lo más alto de la montaña rusa y ahora es cuando vienen las curvas. Mándame Solario como buena dama es tremendamente discreta y esconde muchos secretos. El primero de ellos es que tiene un hermano que acaba de llegar a la villa a exigirle todo lo que se le debe. ¿Pero que puede deber una dama como Madame Solario? Pues según Harder restituir su propio honor que fue ultrajado cuando ella se interpuso entre su madre, la madre de ambos, y su padrastro!!! La novela avanza revelando secretos y puntillitas sobre la protagonista de la que pensamos que ni tan buena ni tan santa porque apenas se defiende de estas acusaciones. Y si no se defiende por algo será, no? Además su hermano no sólo quiere su honor sino ser un bonvivant en toda regla. Y para eso necesita la ayuda de su hermana. Y ahora como si la novela se transformase en una obra de teatro las luces se vuelven tenues y la acción avanza entre los susurro de los hermanos en la habitación de ella. El plan es engañar a esa panda de ricos y sacarles los cuartos. Ellos merecen vivir mejor y exige a su hermana que el plan avance. Debe casarse con Kovanski para apaciguar sus celos pero no dejar de lado tampoco a ese conde de edad avanzada que la corteja. Entre todo este acto el resto de los personajes parecen inmóviles e incluso Bernard desaparece de la escena . Pero algo turba a Madame Solario y cuando el plan está avanzado pero con el temor a que haga aguas por todos lados ella busca a Bernard y se dan a la fuga. ¡Si! De repente la acción se vuelve vertiginosa, y el lector mismo va cogiendo barcas y trenes vigilando su espalda para confirmar que nadie los siga hasta Milán. Bernard lo ha dejado todo por ella sabiendo que en menos de Veinticuatro horas su padre lo espera en Inglaterra para comenzar a trabajar. Y él esta allí en algún punto de Milán sin saber que hacer ni que decir porque Madame Solario es mutismo total. Pero la cosa no va a mejorar porque a Milán llegan Kovanski y el hermano de Solario. Se masca la tragedia. Porque cuando los celos y el dinero ocupan la escena el final es inmediato y no bueno. Kovanski organiza una cena para los cuatro comensales y pondrán todas las cartas sobre la mesa como medio revelador de la personalidad de cada uno. Kovanski volverá a suplicar el amor de Madame Solario, Harder se presentará como la víctima de demasiados embrollos, Bernard intentará mediar entre todas las partes y Madame Solario, impertérrita, aguanta el chaparrón como puede. Pero hacen un juramento. Un juramento ruso y eso va a misa. El que jura cumple. Y confían en la palabra de Madame Solario. Pero a estas alturas ¿alguien conoce a esta señora? Impecables vestidos, pelo perfecto, tez satinada, buenos modales pero... ¿alguien sabe lo que ocurre en el corazón de Madame Solario?. Hay una promesa y la espera de que la noche de paso al día. Bernard confía en que todo se arreglará y podrá volver a casa aunque jamás podrá olvidarla pero.... una nota del director del hotel donde se alojan los cuatro le revela que la promesa hecha se ha roto. Madame Solario lo ha vuelto a hacer llevándoselo todo de nuevo a su paso. Ahora solo cabe pensar en el pobre Kovanski y en ese perro que ni comía ni dejaba comer...
September 27, 2023
"So much clothing and embellishment turned each woman into a sort of shrine, and where there is a shrine there is a cult. The social atmosphere of that epoch was particularly loaded with feminity."
It's pretty rare for me to give a Persephone book 3 stars — in fact, it's only happened once before. With Madame Solario, this was even more disappointing, as this book seemed right up my ally — a cast of Europe's wealthy languishing in a lakeside hotel at the end of an Italian summer, with nothing to do but brood and take walks and gossip about each other? Yes, please.
However, while I could appreciate Gladys Huntington's writing, her attention to detail and body language, there was just something about it that never quite engaged me. I felt so detached from the characters, almost as though they were personas in a dream, figures whom you know must be important, but you just can't catch a glimpse of their faces no matter how hard you try, and when you wake up, they're only a distant recollection, attached to events that in reality hardly seeemed events at all.
There was also just so much subtext that I think you could hardly even call subtext, as it was constantly unclear as to whether it was intentional or not, whether it had any meaning or not, and whether it was ever going to be explained (I don't think it was, not really). The middle section in particular felt like a time loop that dragged on and on, and when you finally escaped it, all you got was by way of answers clueless Bertrand.
As I said, I did think the writing was superb. But the characters were so distant and the plot so muddled that I otherwise had a difficult time enjoying this. It would take at least another reread for me to really get what I wanted out of it, if that's even possible.
April 22, 2022
This book painted a beautiful picture of Italy, particularly Lake Como. The scene setting was remarkable, and you could imagine yourself walking along the lake or in the hotel amongst all the guests. This description helped carry the book, as the plot was very quiet, never fully revealing what was happening and usually leaving the reader with more questions than answers.
Breaking the narrative up so it focused on Bernard for the first and last sections, providing us with an external introduction to Madame Solerio and her brother, as well as the shock conclusion, but allowed us insight into Madame Solerio’s relationship and interactions with her brother in the middle did work particularly well.
Despite this insight though, you still never truly understand Madame Solerio’s inner thoughts and feelings, you can only experience her through the male gaze, something that feels like a loss to the reader, but also allows for the dramatic conclusion in the final twenty pages. It also means we are left with numerous questions, only being able to make assumptions by not being permitted access to her motivations, just as many, if not all, of the men are denied the same access.
Breaking the narrative up so it focused on Bernard for the first and last sections, providing us with an external introduction to Madame Solerio and her brother, as well as the shock conclusion, but allowed us insight into Madame Solerio’s relationship and interactions with her brother in the middle did work particularly well.
Despite this insight though, you still never truly understand Madame Solerio’s inner thoughts and feelings, you can only experience her through the male gaze, something that feels like a loss to the reader, but also allows for the dramatic conclusion in the final twenty pages. It also means we are left with numerous questions, only being able to make assumptions by not being permitted access to her motivations, just as many, if not all, of the men are denied the same access.
April 18, 2019
Alas, a Persephone release that I did not particularly enjoy (I think this is the twentieth or so that I’ve read, so it is not bad going!)
There is nothing especially wrong with this book - the writing is fluid and atmospheric, but the story was just not very compelling. Part of the problem was the utter passiveness of almost every single character - Bernard Middleton, the central perspective for the first and last thirds of the book, lacks any personality, and Natalia, the eponymous ‘Madame Solario’, is infuriating for demonstrating no agency whatsoever (I held out, hoping that at any point we might discover that she was a mastermind, fooling us all, but it wasn’t to be.) At 493 pages, I needed more substance, and was left disappointed.
There is nothing especially wrong with this book - the writing is fluid and atmospheric, but the story was just not very compelling. Part of the problem was the utter passiveness of almost every single character - Bernard Middleton, the central perspective for the first and last thirds of the book, lacks any personality, and Natalia, the eponymous ‘Madame Solario’, is infuriating for demonstrating no agency whatsoever (I held out, hoping that at any point we might discover that she was a mastermind, fooling us all, but it wasn’t to be.) At 493 pages, I needed more substance, and was left disappointed.
August 24, 2024
A slow read that describes the pleasurable lifestyle of idle rich one summer, where girls hope to find a husband but men seek a dalliance. The mystery is about a woman abused at home as a child trying to avoid marriage with a violent man. Can she escape her fate?
March 26, 2018
more questions than answers, really
May 2, 2019
Lo tuve que dejar. Me aburrió. Bien escrito pero la historia no avanza.
Want to Read
September 2, 2021https://theamericanscholar.org/neglec... - Mary Renault's pick for most unjustly forgotten book
July 22, 2025
Dark and dreamy combo is deadly
September 6, 2017
It has taken me longer than usual to read this novel and think about my response to it. The provenance of the book is so interesting that I was compelled to get hold of it when I saw an article about Gladys Huntington.
The first section of "Madame Solario" is immediately engaging, evoking the beauty of Lake Como and the seductive charm of a September stay on its shores, although it soon becomes clear that beneath the leisured and elegant veneer of the cosmopolitan vacationers in the lakeside hotel plenty of tensions seethe - even if not fully comprehensible to Bernard Middleton, on his last holiday before the family business smothers him, certainly the most, if not the only, sympathetic character. The first and third parts of narrative give us Bernard's perceptions, out of his depth as he often is, buffeted by storms of emotions around him while struggling with his own. As he has soon to learn, everything is not as it seems and other people are the most treacherous and baffling of all. Naive, vulnerable, desperately sincere and sometimes wilfully dense, Bernard is a curious prism through which to view people and events, although the strategy works quite well.
From her first appearance, Madame Solario, beautiful, stylish, charming, is an enigma, her history is a mystery - even her first name, Natalia/ Ellen/ Nelly seems to vary according to her social setting. Her magnetic powers of attraction over men suggest La Belle Dame sans Merci. There's definitely something strange about Madame Solario - she speaks but gives away very little. We are never privy to her thoughts although gradually hints of a dark secret emerge and tensions eventually reach snapping point. At moments she appears a lonely, vulnerable figure, at others manipulative and determined - again following the Keatsian connection, Lamia springs to mind.
It is really in the novel's second part, with the surprise arrival of her estranged brother, Eugene Harden, that Madame Solario's past comes to the fore as Eugene sticks tenaciously to her, cornering her for cross-examination about her earlier life (he doesn't get much out of her either) or scheming their future prosperity. I found this section hard going. The narrative slows (my progress too) while Eugene is tedious and deeply unsympathetic. Talk between the pair is too oblique, unclear, though vaguely menacing on the brother's side, for this reader to grasp.
It was a relief to be launched into action in the novel's last part which shifts, in mood as well as geography, far from the dreamy lake excursions of the early chapters. There is a dash of melodrama as events move towards the conclusion. The tone is disturbed and disturbing - this is not a book for lovers of tidy or happy endings. Whatever our final response to Madame Solario and the two dominant rivals for her favour, the poignancy of her pawn's fate is the more jarring for the suddenness of this ending.
Fascinating and curious, evocative of place- Gladys Huntington is very good on locations and their moods - but unevenly paced and oblique, the novel has greater merit than its notoriety suggests. A good, if not five star read, try it and see.
The first section of "Madame Solario" is immediately engaging, evoking the beauty of Lake Como and the seductive charm of a September stay on its shores, although it soon becomes clear that beneath the leisured and elegant veneer of the cosmopolitan vacationers in the lakeside hotel plenty of tensions seethe - even if not fully comprehensible to Bernard Middleton, on his last holiday before the family business smothers him, certainly the most, if not the only, sympathetic character. The first and third parts of narrative give us Bernard's perceptions, out of his depth as he often is, buffeted by storms of emotions around him while struggling with his own. As he has soon to learn, everything is not as it seems and other people are the most treacherous and baffling of all. Naive, vulnerable, desperately sincere and sometimes wilfully dense, Bernard is a curious prism through which to view people and events, although the strategy works quite well.
From her first appearance, Madame Solario, beautiful, stylish, charming, is an enigma, her history is a mystery - even her first name, Natalia/ Ellen/ Nelly seems to vary according to her social setting. Her magnetic powers of attraction over men suggest La Belle Dame sans Merci. There's definitely something strange about Madame Solario - she speaks but gives away very little. We are never privy to her thoughts although gradually hints of a dark secret emerge and tensions eventually reach snapping point. At moments she appears a lonely, vulnerable figure, at others manipulative and determined - again following the Keatsian connection, Lamia springs to mind.
It is really in the novel's second part, with the surprise arrival of her estranged brother, Eugene Harden, that Madame Solario's past comes to the fore as Eugene sticks tenaciously to her, cornering her for cross-examination about her earlier life (he doesn't get much out of her either) or scheming their future prosperity. I found this section hard going. The narrative slows (my progress too) while Eugene is tedious and deeply unsympathetic. Talk between the pair is too oblique, unclear, though vaguely menacing on the brother's side, for this reader to grasp.
It was a relief to be launched into action in the novel's last part which shifts, in mood as well as geography, far from the dreamy lake excursions of the early chapters. There is a dash of melodrama as events move towards the conclusion. The tone is disturbed and disturbing - this is not a book for lovers of tidy or happy endings. Whatever our final response to Madame Solario and the two dominant rivals for her favour, the poignancy of her pawn's fate is the more jarring for the suddenness of this ending.
Fascinating and curious, evocative of place- Gladys Huntington is very good on locations and their moods - but unevenly paced and oblique, the novel has greater merit than its notoriety suggests. A good, if not five star read, try it and see.
September 28, 2016
Plutôt 3.5
September 3, 2013
To coincide with my visit to Lake Como, where it is set, I re-read this fascinating novel of suppressed passion - and worse - among international high society at the turn of the 20th century. In fact, I sat reading it in the lounge of the Hotel Bellevue (now the Grand Hotel Cadenabbia), where most of the action takes place. Today the hotel is very faded, and the management are apparently unaware of its connection with the book. The story is a "shocking" one, especially by the standards of the day, touching upon incest, child abuse and crime, all masked by the most elegant refinement. Originally the author was unknown - my edition (published 1956) shows it as "anonymous". Later it became known that the author was Gladys Huntington. I like especially her delicate, detailed description of people's uncertainties and complex feelings, their changing perceptions and subdued emotions. The ending is a revelation to characters and readers alike, and makes it all the more horrifying that the book is said to be based on the author's own life. Madame Solario
June 9, 2015
This was a good book, an interesting read. I suppose I picked it up at the used book store because I thought it might be reminiscent of the Austen I've read, and I'm happy to say I wasn't wrong in that regard. I appreciated the focus on the female character and the different lens through which the reader glimpses her. Natalia is such a unique person! So complex. I like that the story remarks upon how individuals of the time (and even now) are so beholden to their circumstances and the expectations of others when they allow themselves to be so swayed. In this way, I find the book similar to Austen. As a social commentary perhaps. I imagine I'll read it again, though probably not for a while. Highly recommend if you're looking for some different fiction that's a bit mysterious but not too cliche.
September 10, 2016
I learned of this book as a forgotten masterpiece, but was tempted to abandon it during the second part because Madame Solario's brother was so odious. The third part was better, but I'm not sure the book as a whole was worthwhile. More rich people described in decent prose. The big difference is the inclusion of scandalous material, but for what purpose? Madame Solario is so sparingly described - and always through a male gaze - that I could not sympathize with her.
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