Fleur is taught that respectability is the ultimate goal and yet her husband's selling of those portraits is a betrayal of her love and teaches her that any feeling or passion is dirty and corruptive. The genius of the first person pov is that as Fleur begins to deal with the anger, grief, betrayal and lost love that has haunted her for so long, her emotional warming translates to the reader warming to her character as well.įleur has had some incredibly awful things happen to her in her life, desertion by her father, the deaths of those closest to her, including a child that she has never been able to grieve with anyone for, and the threat of public exposure of the most intimate portraits of her young love for Frederick. I have come to the conclusion that the Painted Lady really would not be as effective a romance if it were told any other way.įleur starts out as morose, moody and self centered, she has a bedrock of ice in her soul and this coldness freezes out the reader and hinders truly liking her. I have been known to consign books to the catbox for first person and have no regrets in doing so.

The strange thing about it is the book is told in Fleur's first person POV and that is my least favorite method of storytelling. Upon further rereads that initial judgement has changed considerably and now it is one of my favorite books with a permanent place on my keeper shelf.

When I first read The Painted Lady by Lucia Graham, I totally hated Fleur and felt so bad for Tony and his unrequited love. Then he made his stunning offer: her freedom and a fortune to live on if she agreed to his terms - five nights of unquestioning, unrestrained surrender to what he planned to teach her. not noticing the flame that burned behind his cool gray eyes.Īmid the lavish surroundings of the Camwell ancestral estate he was fire, but she was unmelting ice. Now, newly widowed, she had reluctantly accepted Sir Anthony's proposal of marriage, although she remained indifferent to his touch.

Reserved and understatedly elegant, Sir Anthony Camwell could not have been more different from the exuberant Frederick Brooks - except in his captivation by the exquisite Fleur. Few knew the secrets behind his untimely death and the terrible betrayal that had left Fleur without a penny and with a heart she felt had turned to stone.Ī DARKLY BROODING NOBLEMAN ENSNARED BY PASSION Because of her young husband's success as a painter, all of Paris and London's beau monde recognized the proud, dark-haired woman who had not only been his wife but his most inspiring model. Sadness shadowed Fleur Brook's lovely, famous face.

The Painted Lady by Lucia Grahame