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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Janell Strube’s Adélaïde: Painter of the Revolution is set in eighteenth-century Paris. Adélaïde Labille dreams of becoming a professional painter despite laws and artistic institutions that reserve this arena for men. Encouraged by her father while facing relentless pressure from her mother to secure a respectable marriage, Adélaïde enters the artistic world surrounding François Vincent, a young painter whose future expands through opportunities permanently denied to women. After a brutal marriage nearly destroys her ability to work, she rebuilds her life by creating a studio where vulnerable young women can study painting while earning the means to survive in a city increasingly affected by poverty, political unrest, and public anger toward the monarchy. As revolutionary violence spreads throughout Paris, Adélaïde tries to get recognition for female artists while protecting the career she spent decades building.
Janell Strube’s Adélaïde is a spectacular historical novel set during the years of the collapsing Bourbon monarchy before the French Revolution. The author does a wonderful job of steeping her story in period details. The author slowly fleshes out Adélaïde, and we see her evolve over quite a bit of time. Strube gives the same treatment to the ancillary characters, and I love Claudette, a housekeeper who represents ordinary French citizens. Having lost everything, she's refreshingly open in criticizing the monarchy. Where Strube shines brightest is in her ability to breathe life into each setting, from Adélaïde’s enormous workshop inside the King’s Library with its scaffolding and apprentice sleeping quarters, to Versailles and its richly dressed royal princesses and their fashion complaints. Well written and immersive, this is the perfect read for those who adore historical feminism and artistic life in eighteenth-century Paris. Very highly recommended.
