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The Age of Light
A captivating debut novel by Whitney Scharer, The Age of Light tells the true story of Vogue model turned renowned photographer Lee Miller, and her search to forge a new identity as an artist after a life spent as a muse. "I'd rather take a photograph than be one," she declares after she arrives in Paris in 1929, where she soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee convinces him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. As they work together in the darkroom, their personal and professional lives become intimately entwined, changing the course of Lee's life forever. Lee's journey of self-discovery takes took her from the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII, from inventing radical new photography techniques to documenting the liberation of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents. Through it all, Lee must grapple with the question of whether it's possible to stay true to herself while also fulfilling her artistic ambition--and what she will have to sacrifice to do so. Told in alternating timelines of 1930s Paris and the battlefields of WWII, this sensuous, richly researched and imagined debut novel brings to light the life of a fearless, original artist--a woman whose name and art should be known by everyone.
400 pages, Paperback
First published February 5, 2019
1041 people are currently reading
29019 people want to read
About the author
Whitney Scharer
1 book346 followersWhitney Scharer's debut novel, THE AGE OF LIGHT, based on the life of pioneering photographer Lee Miller, was published by Little, Brown (US) and Picador (UK) in February, 2019, and was a Boston Globe and IndieNext bestseller and named one of the best books of 2019 by Parade, Glamour Magazine, Real Simple, Refinery 29, Booklist and Yahoo. Internationally, The Age of Light won Le prix Rive Gauche à Paris, was a coups de couer selection from the American Library in Paris, and has been published or is forthcoming from over a dozen other countries. . She holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from the University of Washington. She lives outside Boston with her husband and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,530 reviews
July 14, 2018
This is a romance novel masquerading as historical fiction. Despite my interest in Man Ray and Lee Miller, I truly don’t need to read about their steamy sex. Their sexual proclivities aside, there is a lot about this that simply reads false.
July 27, 2018
This novel of Lee Miller--a model turned photographer who became the assistant and lover to the more famous artist Man Ray--is lush and engrossing and the details of her life swept me away. There is something almost photographic in the way Scharer captures the story, diving into Miller's life as a war correspondent in the 1940s, delving into Miller's libertine mindset, and allowing us to enter the lives of the artistic scene of Paris in the late 20s and early 30s, each image crystallizing for us. Moments are chosen and illuminated creating a vivid story. I can't stop thinking of the ending. A wonderful book.
January 15, 2019
As an amateur photographer and someone who loves photography as art, I was thrilled to get an advance copy of this book about Lee Miller and Man Ray. It took me back to the days when photography was as much about developing a picture as taking it. The book shines when the descriptions turn to the art of photography, especially when Lee is framing a shot or Man is teaching her how to develop for maximum effect or they come up with a new technique. When she is determining how to take a shot, I could totally envision it. What I didn’t enjoy it was when it lingered for pages on the romance and sex.
I liked that the book alternates between Lee in Paris with Man Ray and her time as a war correspondent in London and France during WWII.
I am not a fan of romance novels and I tend to get irritated at books that purport to be historical fiction when they’re really more romance novels. So parts of this book definitely irritated me and I skimmed over those sections.
In the end, I had trouble relating to Lee. The author needed to do a better job of explaining her. For those who enjoy Paula McLain, this book will probably be enjoyable as the writing styles are definitely similar. In case you can’t tell, I’m not a big an of McLain.
My thanks to netgalley and Little, Brown for an advance copy of this novel.
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April 1, 2018In incandescent prose, Whitney Scharer has created an unforgettable heroine discovering her passion, her independence, and her art—and what she must sacrifice to have them. Sweeping from the glamour of 1920s Paris through the battlefields of World War II and into the war’s long shadow, THE AGE OF LIGHT is a startlingly modern love story and a mesmerizing portrait of a woman’s self-transformation from muse into artist.
dnf
April 15, 2019DNF @ page 89.
It took me 3 days to get to page 89 and I'm not finding the story compelling enough to want to pick it up, so into the DNF pile it goes.
I did however spend a lot of time online looking up Lee Miller. I enjoyed reading about the real life woman more than I did the fictionalized one.
This was to be a buddy read with Marialyce and Dana, so look for their reviews for alternate opinions. This book was just not for me.
It took me 3 days to get to page 89 and I'm not finding the story compelling enough to want to pick it up, so into the DNF pile it goes.
I did however spend a lot of time online looking up Lee Miller. I enjoyed reading about the real life woman more than I did the fictionalized one.
This was to be a buddy read with Marialyce and Dana, so look for their reviews for alternate opinions. This book was just not for me.
July 1, 2018
I knew very little about Lee Miller before diving into this delightful debut novel (thanks NetGalley and Little, Brown). I was immediately drawn in, not just by the exquisite language and Scharer's gift of storytelling, but also her ability to send you right into the mind of Miller. Scharer squeezes your heart, and inflames your senses with every move that Miller makes. It was only afterward when I wanted to know more about Man Ray and his enchanting lover that I found Scharer took a few liberties with Miller's history, but all for the good of the story itself. I devoured this gorgeous book and all of the decadence of Paris in the 1930s, the bohemian lifestyle of these artists and Miller's complex transformation into a woman of her own that underlies it all. This book left me in tears on the last page. The impression of this novel is one I will carry with me for months and years forward.
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February 1, 2019Why I love it
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Age of Light had me at “a love affair between real-life photographers Lee Miller and Man Ray.” But when I learned it's also the story of a woman who moves beyond muse to artist, I all but threw myself at it and yelled, "Take my money!" I'm a sucker for a woman demanding to be heard.
When Lee Miller arrives in 1930s Paris, she's determined to put her successful modeling career behind her and go behind the lens. Soon, she meets Surrealist artist Man Ray and convinces him to make her not his subject, but his assistant. As the two work closely together, Lee finds her voice as a photographer. Slowly, they fall in love, but quickly, the lines of their relationship blur. Is she his muse or partner? Are they faithful or not? Where does one person end and the other begin?
I never knew just how sensual developing film could be until Lee Miller and Man Ray got into that dark room. And while Man comes to life on the page as a vulnerable and possessive figure, it’s Lee—her tenacity, confidence, and passion for beauty—who steals the show. Her relationship to her body—her understanding of her own beauty, her fearless lust and brazen sexuality—creates some of the most captivating moments of the story. Lee Miller’s time in Paris and how it echoes through the rest of her life is a story I won’t soon forget. I suspect you won’t either.
Read more at: https://bookofthemonth.com/the-age-of...
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Age of Light had me at “a love affair between real-life photographers Lee Miller and Man Ray.” But when I learned it's also the story of a woman who moves beyond muse to artist, I all but threw myself at it and yelled, "Take my money!" I'm a sucker for a woman demanding to be heard.
When Lee Miller arrives in 1930s Paris, she's determined to put her successful modeling career behind her and go behind the lens. Soon, she meets Surrealist artist Man Ray and convinces him to make her not his subject, but his assistant. As the two work closely together, Lee finds her voice as a photographer. Slowly, they fall in love, but quickly, the lines of their relationship blur. Is she his muse or partner? Are they faithful or not? Where does one person end and the other begin?
I never knew just how sensual developing film could be until Lee Miller and Man Ray got into that dark room. And while Man comes to life on the page as a vulnerable and possessive figure, it’s Lee—her tenacity, confidence, and passion for beauty—who steals the show. Her relationship to her body—her understanding of her own beauty, her fearless lust and brazen sexuality—creates some of the most captivating moments of the story. Lee Miller’s time in Paris and how it echoes through the rest of her life is a story I won’t soon forget. I suspect you won’t either.
Read more at: https://bookofthemonth.com/the-age-of...
July 6, 2018
This is truly an extraordinary novel. From the first scene to the last, I fell into my own passionate love affair with this book--I found myself always wanting to be reading it, and pining for it when I had to set it down, thinking about the characters and the lushness of the details as I fell asleep. Scharer has a visual artists eye for detail, an ear for lyrical prose, and a huge empathetic heart. I can't wait to share it with everyone I know.
February 7, 2019
i come away from the age of light with a bitter, almost metallic feeling coating my throat; it is, i think, a hard book to read at times, and one that is consciously uncomfortable, creating a distance between itself and the reader that it is hard not to imagine as a lens, the glass through which scharer invites us to look and see a place and characters slightly dislocated from reality, upside down in the viewfinder.
it is a fictionalised account of lee miller, her time spent being mentored by, in partnership with, and lover to artist man ray, her experience of moving in the social and creative circles of the surrealist movement, her role in the invention and development of a new technique for developing film, her growth and self-assertion as an artist and her difficulty in being identified as a creator in her own right; juxtaposed against this narrative are fragments of her later life as a war journalist during the second world war, the often devastating moments in history she experienced, captured and shared. and structurally, the age of light is handled deftly. the primary narrative, miller's time in paris, is almost cinematic in its fluid movement between the intensity of specific interactions, 'scenes' of particular emotional significance, and the more atmospheric passages, the impression of miller's everyday experience. the secondary narrative, becomes jarring, almost sickening, in comparison, the intrusion of the brutal, the unspeakable, the repulsive into the languid forward flow of the paris narrative. this is effective, and i felt it working on me.
but i think it is incredibly hard to read the perspective of a narrator so thoroughly alienated from herself, so eroded by the desires, demands and hypocrisies of the men around whom her life and identity seem to have formed. it's not at all that i think scharer has accidentally created a claustrophobic, uncomfortable novel with a woman at its centre so incapable of her own anger that it manifests in jealousy, in a sort of vitriolic hatred of other women and their ugliness, their perceived jealousy and dislike for her, in a need to be visible to and desired by men. i think it is very much a mirror, if a little warped, held to the reality of being a woman at the peripheries of a movement so dominated by ego and a masculine conception of genius. it's just that i, specifically, found myself feeling hollow by the end, angry and frustrated because miller as scharer has re-created her is almost too real, a woman so thoroughly knotted up in trauma that resolution feels - and maybe is - impossible.
i received an advanced reader's copy of this book courtesy of netgalley and picador in exchange for an honest review.
it is a fictionalised account of lee miller, her time spent being mentored by, in partnership with, and lover to artist man ray, her experience of moving in the social and creative circles of the surrealist movement, her role in the invention and development of a new technique for developing film, her growth and self-assertion as an artist and her difficulty in being identified as a creator in her own right; juxtaposed against this narrative are fragments of her later life as a war journalist during the second world war, the often devastating moments in history she experienced, captured and shared. and structurally, the age of light is handled deftly. the primary narrative, miller's time in paris, is almost cinematic in its fluid movement between the intensity of specific interactions, 'scenes' of particular emotional significance, and the more atmospheric passages, the impression of miller's everyday experience. the secondary narrative, becomes jarring, almost sickening, in comparison, the intrusion of the brutal, the unspeakable, the repulsive into the languid forward flow of the paris narrative. this is effective, and i felt it working on me.
but i think it is incredibly hard to read the perspective of a narrator so thoroughly alienated from herself, so eroded by the desires, demands and hypocrisies of the men around whom her life and identity seem to have formed. it's not at all that i think scharer has accidentally created a claustrophobic, uncomfortable novel with a woman at its centre so incapable of her own anger that it manifests in jealousy, in a sort of vitriolic hatred of other women and their ugliness, their perceived jealousy and dislike for her, in a need to be visible to and desired by men. i think it is very much a mirror, if a little warped, held to the reality of being a woman at the peripheries of a movement so dominated by ego and a masculine conception of genius. it's just that i, specifically, found myself feeling hollow by the end, angry and frustrated because miller as scharer has re-created her is almost too real, a woman so thoroughly knotted up in trauma that resolution feels - and maybe is - impossible.
i received an advanced reader's copy of this book courtesy of netgalley and picador in exchange for an honest review.
August 8, 2018
My favorite book so far this year. Absolutely brilliant!
September 29, 2018
This is such an engrossing and transporting book, one that, as many readers have already noted, makes these glamorous and thrilling characters come vividly alive on every page. Scharer is a natural storyteller who gets you emotionally invested not only in the relationship between Lee Miller and Man Ray, but in the dramas and passions of the demimonde they inhabited, and especially in the psychology of Miller herself. I particularly liked how The Age of Light was told solely from Lee Miller's perspective, giving us a complete picture of this artist and innovator who was much more than Man Ray's assistant/lover, but a formidable artist and model and war photographer. The novel builds power as it goes, and the last 1/3 is particularly suspenseful and satisfying and ultimately quite moving. Immediately after turning the final page, I missed Lee and wanted to start all over again.
July 4, 2018
I am lucky enough to have read a preview copy of "The Age of Light". Whitney is an amazing first-time published author. This book was a delight to read and I could barely put it down. It contains the joie de live of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel and the artistic intensity of Frieda Kahlo. Lee Miller is a perfect character and pulls you in to her story. Other books would have portrayed her as the woman behind the man, but this story proves how compelling, smart, creative and so very imperfect Lee Miller was. Whitney has the power to create an image of art I have never really experienced before in a novel. You can practically see her bell jar series or her WW II photography hanging on the wall in front of you. Plus, girlfriend can write the hell out of a love scene. Lee embodies the power of female sexual desire and the way that men fear it & want to control it. I can't wait for others to be able to read it so we can share cocktails and talk about all things Lee Miller.
June 27, 2019
I am finally getting around to writing a review for this one. I believe this is the first 1 star book I have read this year. I don't give 1 star reviews easily. In fact I hate giving a 1 star to a book since I know how hard it is for authors to write a book and put it out there in the world. BUT, here we go...
That GIF literally sums up my reaction after reading this book.
It was not what I was expecting which isn't much when I go into a historical fiction book. When I read historical fiction my expectation is to learn something. Something about the time period and feel transported or about the people that are being written about. This book was supposed to be focused on the famous photographers Lee Miller and Man Ray. Yes, it was about them but did I learn anything? Sure, if finding out that they are complete assholes counts.
Now there is no problem with writing stories with an unlikable MC. I have been known to like them, because it's fun to hate sometimes. But, this one did nothing but focus on a relationship between two horrible people, glossing over photography, and focusing mainly on the fancy cafes/food in Paris rather than anything else in 1929. I would have much preferred the story of Lee Miller and her time photographing the war (and I generally hate war stories!). This story was boring and all I could focus on was the pretentiousness of both of these people.
ALSO, the worst part was the creepy feelings of incest that permeated the story. YUCK.
All in all I would recommend this to no one.
That GIF literally sums up my reaction after reading this book.
It was not what I was expecting which isn't much when I go into a historical fiction book. When I read historical fiction my expectation is to learn something. Something about the time period and feel transported or about the people that are being written about. This book was supposed to be focused on the famous photographers Lee Miller and Man Ray. Yes, it was about them but did I learn anything? Sure, if finding out that they are complete assholes counts.
Now there is no problem with writing stories with an unlikable MC. I have been known to like them, because it's fun to hate sometimes. But, this one did nothing but focus on a relationship between two horrible people, glossing over photography, and focusing mainly on the fancy cafes/food in Paris rather than anything else in 1929. I would have much preferred the story of Lee Miller and her time photographing the war (and I generally hate war stories!). This story was boring and all I could focus on was the pretentiousness of both of these people.
ALSO, the worst part was the creepy feelings of incest that permeated the story. YUCK.
All in all I would recommend this to no one.
February 18, 2019
2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
Thanks to Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review
So having spent time on Google researching about Lee Miller and Man Ray and their outstanding work in surrealist photography and paintings, I was expecting maybe a bit too much from this novel. Alternating between the couple's chaotic relationship in the 1920's to Lee Miller's work during WWII, the best bits of the story are when the focus is on the art productions. With a fair bit of rationalizing, I rounded this story up to a 3 because the war bits are phenomenal and show Lee Miller's lasting legacy as an artist. No influence on the rating but more of a personal reaction- I felt both Lee and Man Ray were very unlikeable.
Thanks to Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review
So having spent time on Google researching about Lee Miller and Man Ray and their outstanding work in surrealist photography and paintings, I was expecting maybe a bit too much from this novel. Alternating between the couple's chaotic relationship in the 1920's to Lee Miller's work during WWII, the best bits of the story are when the focus is on the art productions. With a fair bit of rationalizing, I rounded this story up to a 3 because the war bits are phenomenal and show Lee Miller's lasting legacy as an artist. No influence on the rating but more of a personal reaction- I felt both Lee and Man Ray were very unlikeable.
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April 18, 20192.5 stars
Sorry to say this book disappointed me greatly. I do think that because some titles are mislabeled as to their topic, that this is often the cause for readers to be unhappy with a book. In this case, the book was said to be historical fiction. My reading of it gave me the distinct impression that it was a romance novel.
While I did enjoy the brief "history" of its main characters, Lee Miller and Man Ray, I did not feel that there was not enough of their accomplishments and too much of their supposed love for one another.
Sorry to say that this book did not hit many good notes with this reader.
Sorry to say this book disappointed me greatly. I do think that because some titles are mislabeled as to their topic, that this is often the cause for readers to be unhappy with a book. In this case, the book was said to be historical fiction. My reading of it gave me the distinct impression that it was a romance novel.
While I did enjoy the brief "history" of its main characters, Lee Miller and Man Ray, I did not feel that there was not enough of their accomplishments and too much of their supposed love for one another.
Sorry to say that this book did not hit many good notes with this reader.
July 9, 2018
An evocative historical fiction that swiftly whisks you away to the beautiful melancholy of the 1930s Paris art world.
A woman's voice and her place in art and relationships are at the center of this novel, a contemporary theme among a historical setting. The Age of Light absolutely drips in style; enjoy rubbing elbows with Picasso, Cocteau, and, of course, the tumultuous and intoxicating Man Ray in secret salons and on dimly lit cafe boats.
Note that Lee Miller is a real historical figure with a truly extraordinary life; this gorgeously written fiction brings her brilliance to light.
A woman's voice and her place in art and relationships are at the center of this novel, a contemporary theme among a historical setting. The Age of Light absolutely drips in style; enjoy rubbing elbows with Picasso, Cocteau, and, of course, the tumultuous and intoxicating Man Ray in secret salons and on dimly lit cafe boats.
Note that Lee Miller is a real historical figure with a truly extraordinary life; this gorgeously written fiction brings her brilliance to light.
June 13, 2019
DNF @ 114 pages.
I throw in the towel.
We have completely abandoned the historical part and any sort of character development and for the last 30 pages all we learn about is Lee's various desires for Man Ray, or really any man that reminds her of him even just a bit.
These aren't the droits I was looking for.
Lee Miller deserves a better biography, even if it is a fictional one.
I throw in the towel.
We have completely abandoned the historical part and any sort of character development and for the last 30 pages all we learn about is Lee's various desires for Man Ray, or really any man that reminds her of him even just a bit.
These aren't the droits I was looking for.
Lee Miller deserves a better biography, even if it is a fictional one.
March 10, 2019
The problem I had with this novel is the same one I had with Paula McLain's latest ("Love and Ruin"). The author, in both cases, takes a female artist who by all accounts has lived a full and extremely interesting life, and reduces her to the relationship she had with a more famous male artist. In this case, Whitney Scharer examines Lee Miller, a model-turned-photographer in late 1920 and early 1930s Paris. Lee becomes Man Ray's assistant and they begin a love affair. Almost the entire book is devoted to this love affair, which I found insulting. Lee was an accomplished photographer and writer in her own right, documenting WWII and the concentration camps, writing for Vogue. But Scharer, as I said, reduces Lee to the relationship she had with Man Ray. This was a very disappointing and un-feminist portrayal of a feminist photographer.
July 27, 2018
Loved every line of it...
February 17, 2019
I knew nothing about either Lee Miller or Man Ray before I read this book. However, I was absolutely fascinated by this story. Several times during the time I listened to the audio version of the book did I have to take a break to google both Lee Miller Man Ray for their art.
Now, I had an ecopy of this book, but I decided to listen to the audio version during work. However, I couldn't stop listening and start reading when I got home. The narrator, Therese Plummer did such an excellent work that I just couldn't stop listening to her telling the story about Lee and Man. I have a favorite scene from the narrator, and it's when Lee and Man are in the darkroom for the first time and you can really feel the tension between them. Listening to the scene (and other intense scenes) is just, in my opinion, even better than reading them when the narrator does such a good job as with this book.
It's so easy to forget that this is just fiction (based on facts) when you read this book. The characters come to life in a way that makes you think that this is all true. Like there was a stenographer there all the time writing down everything that happened and was said. That's how I felt listening to the book. Like I was a fly on the way witness all that happened.
In the end, I just want to say that this is an absolutely fantastic book! And I recommend it warmly. Read it, listen to it. Do what feels best for you!
Now, I had an ecopy of this book, but I decided to listen to the audio version during work. However, I couldn't stop listening and start reading when I got home. The narrator, Therese Plummer did such an excellent work that I just couldn't stop listening to her telling the story about Lee and Man. I have a favorite scene from the narrator, and it's when Lee and Man are in the darkroom for the first time and you can really feel the tension between them. Listening to the scene (and other intense scenes) is just, in my opinion, even better than reading them when the narrator does such a good job as with this book.
It's so easy to forget that this is just fiction (based on facts) when you read this book. The characters come to life in a way that makes you think that this is all true. Like there was a stenographer there all the time writing down everything that happened and was said. That's how I felt listening to the book. Like I was a fly on the way witness all that happened.
In the end, I just want to say that this is an absolutely fantastic book! And I recommend it warmly. Read it, listen to it. Do what feels best for you!
July 28, 2019
Čiukšt ir baigta.
Būna tokių knygų, kurios iš paskos vaikšto, kol neperskaitai iki galo. Net zvimbia galvoj, o kaip gi viskas ten bus toliau.
Dar būna tokių knygų, kurios prašyte prašosi būti pagūglinamos.
Tai “Šviesos amžius” atitinka abu kriterijus.
Aš apie dadaistus ir siurrealistus mažai ką žinojau, o Lee Miller ir Man Ray pavardės man visiškai nieko nesakė. Dėka šito skaitinio - viena spraga mažiau.
Bet neapsigaukit, tai ne garsių menininkų biografija. Tai tik jų gyvenimo istorija paremtas skanutėlis romanas.
Jame labai daug tarpukario Paryžiaus, daug Vogue modelių, daug fotografijos, daug bohemos vakaruškų, daug sekso, bet daug ir skausmo apie tai kaip talentinga moteris ieško savo balso, savo pripažinimo, kenčia tą kovą, regis, su visu pasauliu, o labiausiai - su vyrų pasauliu.
Skanumėlis, viena fainesnių šią vasarą.
Būna tokių knygų, kurios iš paskos vaikšto, kol neperskaitai iki galo. Net zvimbia galvoj, o kaip gi viskas ten bus toliau.
Dar būna tokių knygų, kurios prašyte prašosi būti pagūglinamos.
Tai “Šviesos amžius” atitinka abu kriterijus.
Aš apie dadaistus ir siurrealistus mažai ką žinojau, o Lee Miller ir Man Ray pavardės man visiškai nieko nesakė. Dėka šito skaitinio - viena spraga mažiau.
Bet neapsigaukit, tai ne garsių menininkų biografija. Tai tik jų gyvenimo istorija paremtas skanutėlis romanas.
Jame labai daug tarpukario Paryžiaus, daug Vogue modelių, daug fotografijos, daug bohemos vakaruškų, daug sekso, bet daug ir skausmo apie tai kaip talentinga moteris ieško savo balso, savo pripažinimo, kenčia tą kovą, regis, su visu pasauliu, o labiausiai - su vyrų pasauliu.
Skanumėlis, viena fainesnių šią vasarą.
April 26, 2019
Upon finishing this novel, I really wish that I had read one of the biographies of the fascinating Lee Miller rather than this flawed and salacious fictional account of her relationship with Man Ray.
May 20, 2020
This book is well written but there really is no plot. It's really just willy-nilly with seemingly no point and I lost interest. The World War II sections were great but unfortunately there's just not enough of them to keep my interest with this one.
July 4, 2018
Great and informative read!
September 4, 2019
I expected a lot and got basically nothing. You take most interesting people in art world of that time and do nothing with it. Just such a flat and dull book. It might be ok if you know nothing about real people on which book is based. I believe Lee Miller would be really upset by such a boring portrait of her. Do yourself a favour and watch The lives of Lee Miller documentary.
Very disappointing and know one would ever even read a book if not those famous names author based it on
Very disappointing and know one would ever even read a book if not those famous names author based it on
November 25, 2018
I was recently sent an ARC of The Age of Light by the publicists at Little, Brown and Company in exchange for an honest review. This work of historical fiction by Whitney Scharer is expected to be published on February 05, 2019.
The Age of Light is a captivating and exhilarating narrative that keeps readers emotionally invested up to the very last page. Masquerading as historical fiction, the novel recounts the life of Vogue model turned photographer, Lee Miller and her relationship with Man Ray, one of the most influential figures of the Dada and Surrealists movements ensuing Paris in the 1930s.
In incandescent prose debut writer, Whitney Scharer creates a female empowering tale of a heroine’s journey away from home to discover her passion, her independence, and her art. The story unravels under the glamour and melancholy of Paris amidst the changes resulting from World War II and its lingering stench on much of Europe with a young woman’s determination to transform herself from subject of art to creator of art.
In 1966 Lee is a middle-aged woman who occupies her time preparing elaborate ten-course meals and writing cooking articles for Vogue. She lives on a farm in Sussex, England with her husband, Roland. Day after day, she feels her life droning on with little excitement. Her life is shaken once more when her editor, Audrey wakes Lee up from her dull slumber and requests for her to write a piece for Vogue about her years with Man Ray. Audrey wants Lee’s story to be romantic, like a fairy tale, but Lee ultimately decides to tell the real story: “the one where she loved a man and he loved her, but in the end they took everything from each other – who can say who was more destroyed?” So begins the story of a woman who loved a man and he loved her, but in the end, they took love away from each other and are both left destroyed.
Paris 1929 begins the heart of a vividly detailed chronicle of a professional mentorship and friendship that quickly spirals into a toxic love affair, augmenting a prolific period of creation as Lee and Man Ray become each other’s whim. Devoured by the decadence of Paris and the bohemian lifestyle – in smoky salons, hidden speakeasies, and dimly lit cafes, the reader is drawn into a tumultuous and provocative period of Lee’s life.
From Lee, Man finds inspiration in his primary passion as a painter. From Man, Lee learns to become the photographer as opposed to the one being photographed. Surrounded by the money patrons of the elite, the Avant-Garde thinkers, and the bourgeois flaneurs, the novel’s plot is propelled by vignettes sensually detailed, producing a fascinating illustration of Paris during its rise to modernity.
The cast of characters that Lee and Ray cross paths with creates a voyeuristic window through which the sexuality of Lee and Man are revealed and become increasingly questionable. Haunted by a troubled relationship with her father that leads her to struggle with PTSD, and the introduction of a new male figure in her life, Lee’s perceptions of this new artsy world become dismantled and reconstructed as she perpetually tries to reconcile an unhealthy past of abuse, rape, depression, and alcoholism.
The Age of Light is an illuminating novel of the hope and effervescence that underlies a young woman’s journey of self-transformation. Lee’s life is trapped as a muse behind a camera lens from multiple figures who seek to capitalize on her beauty for personal benefits. Lee reclaims her essence, and creates her own art, identity and blooming success. This novel is a vivid and raw portrayal of a woman who struggles between art and creating art, and the torturous struggle of achieving both.
The Age of Light is a captivating and exhilarating narrative that keeps readers emotionally invested up to the very last page. Masquerading as historical fiction, the novel recounts the life of Vogue model turned photographer, Lee Miller and her relationship with Man Ray, one of the most influential figures of the Dada and Surrealists movements ensuing Paris in the 1930s.
In incandescent prose debut writer, Whitney Scharer creates a female empowering tale of a heroine’s journey away from home to discover her passion, her independence, and her art. The story unravels under the glamour and melancholy of Paris amidst the changes resulting from World War II and its lingering stench on much of Europe with a young woman’s determination to transform herself from subject of art to creator of art.
In 1966 Lee is a middle-aged woman who occupies her time preparing elaborate ten-course meals and writing cooking articles for Vogue. She lives on a farm in Sussex, England with her husband, Roland. Day after day, she feels her life droning on with little excitement. Her life is shaken once more when her editor, Audrey wakes Lee up from her dull slumber and requests for her to write a piece for Vogue about her years with Man Ray. Audrey wants Lee’s story to be romantic, like a fairy tale, but Lee ultimately decides to tell the real story: “the one where she loved a man and he loved her, but in the end they took everything from each other – who can say who was more destroyed?” So begins the story of a woman who loved a man and he loved her, but in the end, they took love away from each other and are both left destroyed.
Paris 1929 begins the heart of a vividly detailed chronicle of a professional mentorship and friendship that quickly spirals into a toxic love affair, augmenting a prolific period of creation as Lee and Man Ray become each other’s whim. Devoured by the decadence of Paris and the bohemian lifestyle – in smoky salons, hidden speakeasies, and dimly lit cafes, the reader is drawn into a tumultuous and provocative period of Lee’s life.
From Lee, Man finds inspiration in his primary passion as a painter. From Man, Lee learns to become the photographer as opposed to the one being photographed. Surrounded by the money patrons of the elite, the Avant-Garde thinkers, and the bourgeois flaneurs, the novel’s plot is propelled by vignettes sensually detailed, producing a fascinating illustration of Paris during its rise to modernity.
The cast of characters that Lee and Ray cross paths with creates a voyeuristic window through which the sexuality of Lee and Man are revealed and become increasingly questionable. Haunted by a troubled relationship with her father that leads her to struggle with PTSD, and the introduction of a new male figure in her life, Lee’s perceptions of this new artsy world become dismantled and reconstructed as she perpetually tries to reconcile an unhealthy past of abuse, rape, depression, and alcoholism.
The Age of Light is an illuminating novel of the hope and effervescence that underlies a young woman’s journey of self-transformation. Lee’s life is trapped as a muse behind a camera lens from multiple figures who seek to capitalize on her beauty for personal benefits. Lee reclaims her essence, and creates her own art, identity and blooming success. This novel is a vivid and raw portrayal of a woman who struggles between art and creating art, and the torturous struggle of achieving both.
November 2, 2018
Lee Miller is a Vogue model turned photographer. She meets and falls in love with the famous Man Ray in 1930' Paris. Haunted by her past Lee is charmed by the remarkable Man Ray. As lee's career starts to rise Man Ray becomes jealous and things take a turn. This is at times very sexually explicit. Very bohemian in nature. I loved it! I was compelled it. The setting being Paris, the whole artsy feel of it. The characters were feelable. Can't say enough how good this is. I just loved it!
I was given this advanced read from Net Galley for an honest review.
Dawn Ruby-BookGypsy
Novels N Latte Book Blog
Novels & Latte Book Club
Hudson Valley NY
I was given this advanced read from Net Galley for an honest review.
Dawn Ruby-BookGypsy
Novels N Latte Book Blog
Novels & Latte Book Club
Hudson Valley NY
March 8, 2019
(3.75) This novel about Lee Miller’s relationship with Man Ray is in the same vein as The Paris Wife, Z, Loving Frank and Frieda: all of these have sought to rescue a historical woman from the shadow of a celebrated, charismatic male and tell her own fascinating life story. Scharer captures the bohemian atmosphere of 1929–30 Paris in elegant but accessible prose. Along with the central pair we meet others from the Dada group plus Jean Cocteau, and get a glimpse of Josephine Baker.
Miller was a photographer as well as a model and journalist, and this is an appropriately visual novel that’s interested in appearances, lighting and what gets preserved for posterity. It’s also fairly sexually explicit for literary fiction, sometimes unnecessarily so, so keep that in mind if it’s likely to bother you. There’s one especially erotic scene – from before they even become lovers – when Man is teaching her to develop film and is guiding her hands in the pitch dark. I enjoyed the brief flashes of Lee at other points in her life: in London during the Blitz, photographing the aftermath of the war in Germany (there’s a famous image of her in Hitler’s bathtub), and hoping she’s more than just a washed-up alcoholic in the 1960s.
The novel is nearly 100 pages too long, I think, such that my interest in the politics of the central relationship – Man becomes too possessive and Lee starts to act out, longing for freedom again – started to wane. I also think it would be a boon to have a prior interest in or some knowledge of the Surrealists. It was missing a trick to put a stock image on the cover instead of one of Lee’s photos or a photo of her.
Miller was a photographer as well as a model and journalist, and this is an appropriately visual novel that’s interested in appearances, lighting and what gets preserved for posterity. It’s also fairly sexually explicit for literary fiction, sometimes unnecessarily so, so keep that in mind if it’s likely to bother you. There’s one especially erotic scene – from before they even become lovers – when Man is teaching her to develop film and is guiding her hands in the pitch dark. I enjoyed the brief flashes of Lee at other points in her life: in London during the Blitz, photographing the aftermath of the war in Germany (there’s a famous image of her in Hitler’s bathtub), and hoping she’s more than just a washed-up alcoholic in the 1960s.
The novel is nearly 100 pages too long, I think, such that my interest in the politics of the central relationship – Man becomes too possessive and Lee starts to act out, longing for freedom again – started to wane. I also think it would be a boon to have a prior interest in or some knowledge of the Surrealists. It was missing a trick to put a stock image on the cover instead of one of Lee’s photos or a photo of her.
March 10, 2019
Let’s just cut to the chase: how stunning is this cover?! And for a novel that is largely about photographic art, it’s utterly perfect. As to the novel itself, The Age of Light is biographical historical fiction, a sub-genre I tend to gravitate towards.
For the most part, The Age of Light delivers on what it promises. And it’s stunningly written in places, truly lyrical. Take this passage about Lee’s depression, the picture it paints is so vivid it’s tangible:
‘Lee has never been very good at being by herself: left to her own devices, she can easily sink into sadness and inactivity. As the weeks have passed, her loneliness has gained heft and power: it has contours now, almost a physical shape, and she imagines it sitting in the corner of her room, waiting for her, a sucking, spongy thing.’
The arrangement of the novel itself was also well thought out. We meet Lee in the 1960s, overweight, depressed, alcoholic, her career in tatters. We then swing back to the late 1920s where Lee is in Paris, determined to break free from modelling and find herself through exploring different forms of art. We finish up in 1974, nearing the end of Lee’s life. The 1920s part of the novel, which forms the bulk, is bracketed by short, gripping chapters that provide a window into Lee’s experiences covering parts of WWII, including the liberation of Dachau. For someone who was already prone to depression, these experiences left their mark quite vividly on Lee. I believe she suffered PTS on top of unresolved trauma left over from her childhood. It was little wonder she was in the state she was when we met her in the prologue.
Lee’s childhood is divulged throughout the 1920s chapters in fits and bursts. Raped when she was only seven by a family friend, and voyeuristically abused by her father throughout her entire childhood right into her teenage years, it was little wonder Lee was afraid of commitment and drawn to self-sabotage. Her relationship with her father was creepy. She claimed to love him, yet wanted to distance herself while still craving his approval and affection. Her father was a hobby photographer and used to take photos of his daughter nude. He even took photos of her with a friend, both of the girls nude, arranging them in sexualised poses. And this was after Lee had been raped! What a depraved man. No wonder his wife, Lee’s mother, was a drug addict. I don’t know how much of this childhood aspect of the story is truth versus fiction, but it really did go a long way towards explaining who Lee was at the time of her relationship with Man.
Understanding why a person is the way they are doesn’t necessarily translate to liking them. Lee really got on my nerves as the novel progressed and I began to feel bogged down by her self-sabotage for the last one hundred pages or so. Her relationship with Man Ray did so much for her. He taught her a lot about photography and they worked so well together that there was a mutual trading of ideas that benefited them both. From my perspective, Man adored Lee, but as soon as he showed her how much, she set out to distance herself and sabotage their relationship. She really did some crappy things. And while there is a ‘betrayal’ on Man’s part, when taken within the context of the era, and the way their working relationship was set up, I am not convinced he acted with malice. I’m not saying he was in the right, but I don’t think that he considered that what he’d done was anything other than above board. Sadly, I think the love affair between Man and Lee was mostly on his side. I think his jealousy paled in comparison to her self-sabotage, in terms of what caused their relationship to flounder.
As far as novels go, The Age of Light provides a window into the life of Lee Miller at the beginning of her career as a photographer, but there is a lot of attention given to her moods and whims, to her alcohol consumption, her relationship with Man, and the many ways she would put people offside and indulge in toxic behaviour. There’s a lot of gaps in this history, but it does offer a launching pad for further reading on Lee Miller.
Thanks is extended to Pan Macmillan Australia for providing me with a copy of The Age of Light for review.
For the most part, The Age of Light delivers on what it promises. And it’s stunningly written in places, truly lyrical. Take this passage about Lee’s depression, the picture it paints is so vivid it’s tangible:
‘Lee has never been very good at being by herself: left to her own devices, she can easily sink into sadness and inactivity. As the weeks have passed, her loneliness has gained heft and power: it has contours now, almost a physical shape, and she imagines it sitting in the corner of her room, waiting for her, a sucking, spongy thing.’
The arrangement of the novel itself was also well thought out. We meet Lee in the 1960s, overweight, depressed, alcoholic, her career in tatters. We then swing back to the late 1920s where Lee is in Paris, determined to break free from modelling and find herself through exploring different forms of art. We finish up in 1974, nearing the end of Lee’s life. The 1920s part of the novel, which forms the bulk, is bracketed by short, gripping chapters that provide a window into Lee’s experiences covering parts of WWII, including the liberation of Dachau. For someone who was already prone to depression, these experiences left their mark quite vividly on Lee. I believe she suffered PTS on top of unresolved trauma left over from her childhood. It was little wonder she was in the state she was when we met her in the prologue.
Lee’s childhood is divulged throughout the 1920s chapters in fits and bursts. Raped when she was only seven by a family friend, and voyeuristically abused by her father throughout her entire childhood right into her teenage years, it was little wonder Lee was afraid of commitment and drawn to self-sabotage. Her relationship with her father was creepy. She claimed to love him, yet wanted to distance herself while still craving his approval and affection. Her father was a hobby photographer and used to take photos of his daughter nude. He even took photos of her with a friend, both of the girls nude, arranging them in sexualised poses. And this was after Lee had been raped! What a depraved man. No wonder his wife, Lee’s mother, was a drug addict. I don’t know how much of this childhood aspect of the story is truth versus fiction, but it really did go a long way towards explaining who Lee was at the time of her relationship with Man.
Understanding why a person is the way they are doesn’t necessarily translate to liking them. Lee really got on my nerves as the novel progressed and I began to feel bogged down by her self-sabotage for the last one hundred pages or so. Her relationship with Man Ray did so much for her. He taught her a lot about photography and they worked so well together that there was a mutual trading of ideas that benefited them both. From my perspective, Man adored Lee, but as soon as he showed her how much, she set out to distance herself and sabotage their relationship. She really did some crappy things. And while there is a ‘betrayal’ on Man’s part, when taken within the context of the era, and the way their working relationship was set up, I am not convinced he acted with malice. I’m not saying he was in the right, but I don’t think that he considered that what he’d done was anything other than above board. Sadly, I think the love affair between Man and Lee was mostly on his side. I think his jealousy paled in comparison to her self-sabotage, in terms of what caused their relationship to flounder.
As far as novels go, The Age of Light provides a window into the life of Lee Miller at the beginning of her career as a photographer, but there is a lot of attention given to her moods and whims, to her alcohol consumption, her relationship with Man, and the many ways she would put people offside and indulge in toxic behaviour. There’s a lot of gaps in this history, but it does offer a launching pad for further reading on Lee Miller.
Thanks is extended to Pan Macmillan Australia for providing me with a copy of The Age of Light for review.
April 29, 2019
1929: Lee Miller comes to Paris as she wishes to paint. Upon leaving NY, her father gives her old camera. She wasn’t planning on using it as she wanted to paint. But when she loses her camera, then she realizes how much she misses it and how much she wants to learn all about photography.
At a party, she meets Man Ray, a famous photographer. He is reluctant to teach her at first. He “insists he is a terrible teacher and that she’ll learn nothing from him, but on the contrary, Lee finds him informative and patient. He’s warm, surprisingly open with all the tricks he’s learned.”
Through other artist’s work she realizes what she wants above all: she wants to be “alone but not lonely, needing no one, living her life with intention.” But then she starts wondering what Man thinks, what he would say or do. Then they get much closer and it’s about them being literary close to each other. “He begs her to stay close when he is painting… (…) And then he puts aside the camera and spreads out next to her and touches every bit of her, all the parts he’s photographed and all the parts he hasn’t.”
It’s about what they do together and how they do it. The story becomes disengaging and stops moving forward. The plot could be better developed. Some parts are pretty much all about self-absorption.
@FB/BestHistoricalFiction
At a party, she meets Man Ray, a famous photographer. He is reluctant to teach her at first. He “insists he is a terrible teacher and that she’ll learn nothing from him, but on the contrary, Lee finds him informative and patient. He’s warm, surprisingly open with all the tricks he’s learned.”
Through other artist’s work she realizes what she wants above all: she wants to be “alone but not lonely, needing no one, living her life with intention.” But then she starts wondering what Man thinks, what he would say or do. Then they get much closer and it’s about them being literary close to each other. “He begs her to stay close when he is painting… (…) And then he puts aside the camera and spreads out next to her and touches every bit of her, all the parts he’s photographed and all the parts he hasn’t.”
It’s about what they do together and how they do it. The story becomes disengaging and stops moving forward. The plot could be better developed. Some parts are pretty much all about self-absorption.
@FB/BestHistoricalFiction
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