From acclaimed author V.S. Alexander comes an absorbing, immersive novel set during World War I, as a talented and ambitious artist finds an unusual calling. May 1917: The elegant streets of Boston are thousands of miles away from the carnage of the Western Front. Yet even here, amid the clatter of horse-drawn carriages and automobiles, it is impossible to ignore the war raging across Europe. … ignore the war raging across Europe. Emma Lewis Swan’s husband, Tom, has gone to France, eager to do his duty as a surgeon. Emma, a sculptress, has stayed behind, pursuing her art despite being dismissed by male critics. On the bustling sidewalk she spies a returned soldier. His brutally scarred face inspires first pity, and then something more—a determination to use her skill to make masks for disfigured soldiers.
Leaving Boston for France also means leaving behind Linton Bower, a fiery, gifted artist determined to win her. Emma’s union with Tom has been steady yet passionless, marred by guilt over a choice she made long ago. In Paris, she crafts intricate, lifelike masks to restore these wounded men to the world. But in the course of her new career she will encounter one man who compels her to confront the secret she’s never revealed, not even to Tom. Only by casting off the façade she has worn for so long can she pursue a path through heartbreak and turmoil toward her own unexpected future. . . .
Praise for V.S. Alexander’s The Traitor
“Alexander brings his signature commitment to historical accuracy to The Traitor, immersing readers in the intrigue of the resistance. Fans of Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See and Alex Rosenberg’s The Girl from Krakow will fall under the spell of this powerfully moving novel.”
—Booklist
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The Sculptress is a realistic view not only of the world of the early 20th century and the years of WWI, but of what women faced in those times, especially women whose talents and ambitions set them apart from the norm. We see Emma blossom from an uncertain young teenager with no real direction in life, to a confident woman who must come to terms with past mistakes and disappointments and learn to depend on herself. She does this with a resilience and determination that sees her through the most difficult times–from attempting to navigate Boston’s art scene with all of its “politics” and innate discrimination against women, to the more personal choices regarding her personal relationships, to overcoming her artistic limitations to help soldiers who have been permanently scarred, physically and emotionally, by the war. It’s an ambitious book, and it delivers.
THE SCULPTRESS by V.S. Alexander
Emma Lewis Swan is an artist and sculptor. Her husband Tom is a surgeon and goes to Paris to help with the wounded’ medical need from the Great War in Europe. Emma has never felt a great deal of passion in her relationship with her husband, so it is not a great imposition to have him being gone.
Emma is introduced to another artist, a mostly blind man named Linton Bower. They strike up a daring friendship, Linton would like to have a much deeper relationship with Emma, but she runs off to Paris, in the guise of helping to make masks for the disfigured veterans.
Emma has a lot of pain for a decision she made early in life before she was married. She has guilt, never having told anyone about her choices.
#thesculptress is okay, it is not necessarily something that I would have chosen, it was included with the complimentary copy of #thetitanicsisters that I received from the publisher, #kensingtonbooks. It is something to read, I am always looking for my next book. I was under no obligation to post a review.
I have enjoyed all of this author’s books and was excited when i saw that he had a new book. It wasn’t one of my favorites but I still recommend that you read it to learn more about a strong woman artist in the early part of the 20th century.
My main problem with this book is that I never connected with Emma. She wanted to be an artist but she seemed to be more interested in being part of high society and falling in love than she did with her art. However, it was great to read about a strong female who was determined to practice art in a style that women at the time didn’t do. Her early sculptures were dismissed by the critics not because of her work but due to her sex. She did redeem herself when she started working with disfigured soldiers from the war. If you enjoy books about WWI, you need to read The Sculptress!
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
The Sculptress by V.S. Alexander is Historical Fiction set in World War I Boston and France. The reader is drawn into a time, events and places that are difficult to even imagine. The characters seem so real with their early 20th Century culture, speech and values. Emma the main character is a Sculpturess who does not fit in well in the artistic community in Boston. At first it was difficult to empathize with Emma because of her self-absorption but she is influenced by circumstances in her life and gradually matures. The author does not spare the reader and describes the gritty details of life, poverty, illness, war and love. My only disappointment in this was the end of the book seemed incomplete.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I appreciate the opportunity and thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read, enjoy and review this book. 5 Stars
The Sculptress by V.S. Alexander is an interesting historical fiction novel that takes place during WWI and brings to light an aspect of war that is not always illuminated as much as it should be: the physical and mental scars and damage to our soldiers from battle.
I found this book fascinating in that it incorporated this into the plot of Emma Lewis Swann, the main female character, and her journey of taking her under used and under appreciated talent of painting/sculpting into helping find a way to help disfigured soldiers that have returned from war.
This novel takes place 1917/WWI and thereafter and incorporates the landscapes of the US and France. Emma has a real talent, and as many women have experienced, she is not taken seriously and dismissed. She is finally able to find her calling and the book elaborates on this journey. She has many obstacles that she experiences from a professional and from a personal standpoint during her quest, and the book also adds a romance lost and gained, as well as additional personal misunderstandings and struggles that she experiences that helps add a complexity to the story line itself.
I really enjoyed reading this novel and the Author’s afterword that helped shed light on her inspirations for the characters and subject matter within the book as well as what was fiction vs fact.
A great read. 4/5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication on 2/23/21.
Didn’t like this book at all
Unlikeable Characters and Bad Narration
Audiobook Review:
Having just listened to a fascinating historical fiction novel about a group of young Smith college graduates who took part in the war effort in France during World War II (Band of Sisters), I was fascinated by this book when I saw it at a review site. The book’s description and cover promised a fascinating story about a young American sculptress who comes to Paris to make masks for men disfigured in the war. The description really makes it sound like this is going to be the major thrust of the book, but the heroine doesn’t even get to France until the halfway point of the book. Since I listened to the novel as an audiobook, I kept you waiting for what I thought the story was going to be about to happen. Instead, the author spends a lot of time on the heroine’s earlier life, focusing on her mistakes with men as well as her art. There were so many problems beyond this. The author did not create likeable characters. One appeared to be noble in his intentions, but he ended up being as slimy as Emma’s teenage baby daddy, thinking it’s OK to be unfaithful while he’s at war. I kept waiting for a story of any merit to emerge or for the characters to grow and become better people (or even more interesting to follow). There were so many things not to like about Emma in particular. I won’t detail them all here, but she just wasn’t a good person, flitting through life, bemoaning her circumstances, and making bad choices (especially with men). The narrator did not do a good job either. Except for the ones who had accents, all the male characters sounded exactly the same. And I mean exactly! Emma and the other female characters had at least a little distinction between their voices, but not much. If you enjoy historical fiction about World War I, I suggest finding another, better book.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
I
Historical Fiction – WW1
This book explores a love affair as well as denial of that love. Emma’s love and marriage and the impact of poor decisions. It did not really focus on WW1 but more on the romance of Emma, poor choices and the decisions that shaped her life. This was a bit disappointing as I was interested in the sculpting she did for injured soldiers and how that changed their lives but there was little focus here or with her relationship with her husband.
Emma Lewis is given the opportunity to study sculpture with Daniel Chester French, a form of art that many men think isn’t suitable for women and the feminine mind can’t create works of merit and how sexists is that! Later on Emma meets Dr. Thomas Swan, he takes her mind off her broken heart, they marry and it’s not the passionate union she hoped for. Surgeons are needed in France during WW I and Tom quickly volunteers to help the Red Cross. Emma’s left behind in Boston, she’s busy with her sculpting and gets distracted by another male artist Linton Bower.
Tom keeps asking Emma to join him in France and she’s not keen until one day she notices a returned soldier begging on a footpath. He’s badly disfigured, people ignore him and turn away disgusted. Emma is horrified by his injuries and appalled at the way people treat him and maybe she’s needed in France after all. Emma decides to go Paris, use her skills as a sculptress and create facial masks for mutilated soldiers. Arriving in Paris Emma opens her studio and her patient’s wounds are horrific, taking casts with plaster and bandages she then creates a mask made out of copper and hand painted to match the patient’s skin tone.
Emma’s relationship with her husband Tom has always been strained, it only gets worse with both Emma and Tom continually making more poor choices.
The Sculptress is a historical fiction book by V. S. Alexander about a sculptress who goes to France to make masks for horribly disfigured solders during World War I. I listened to the audiobook version which was narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen. When I listened to Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig there was a scene set in a hospital where masks were made for soldiers, and I found the subject fascinating. When I heard about this, I jumped on the chance to read it. Alas, only about a quarter of the book dealt with this subject. I could have done without the rest.
Emma Lewis Swan was a sculptress living in Boston. Though her work was good, she had trouble with faces. Her husband Tom, a surgeon, went to France to do his patriotic duty serving wounded soldiers. Emma stayed behind, moving in art circles and being savaged by critics. She meets Linton Bower, a handsome blind painter, and the two are deeply drawn to each other. Tom writes and suggests she should go to Paris and use her talents to make masks for severely disfigured soldiers, so she leaves Linton and Boston and off she goes. While working in Paris, she confronts a man who forces her to deal with her past.
I so wanted to love this story; truly I did. However, Emma Lewis Swan has got to be one of the most unlikable “heroines” I’ve come across in a long time. The time she spent sculpting masks was interesting, and she was doing something that made a difference to many lives. Besides that, she traveled through life with a “poor me” attitude. Anything bad that happened was someone else’s fault. Her romantic entanglements showed her poor judgment. She fell in love with a boy as a teenager and they had relations. He basically wanted nothing to do with her after their time together, so she threatens to tell on him unless he keeps sleeping with her. Ah, the romance! Yet for years afterwards, she goes on and on about the young love she had and how wonderful their “making love” was. She marries Tom for security; yet she’s upset that they don’t have a grand passion. She falls in love with Linton while her husband was saving lives in France. She goes to France and eventually confronts someone from her past. What happens with that situation rather turned my stomach. After more drama, the story ends rather abruptly. I wish it had ended hours earlier.
Sarah Mollo-Christensen’s narration was basically okay. She did fine voicing Emma and a few of the foreign characters, but she didn’t have much range and it was extremely hard to distinguish different characters from one another.
Skip this one, and look for other books by V.S. Alexander instead.
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publishers and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.
I generally enjoy books about art and artists, so I was intrigued by The Sculptress, which is based on the life of the real-life sculptress, Anna Coleman-Ladd. It is set in post-Gilded Age, pre-World War I America, later moving to France in World War I.
The protagonist, Emma Lewis, has enough “wobble” in her personality to be interesting; however, some readers may be uncomfortable with her as she is quite calculating and not particularly likable. I also found her character to be rather inconsistent. In late adolescence, she and Kurt, a young man on whom she’s had a crush since she was fifteen. When he realizes she’s a virgin (after their first sexual encounter), he bluntly states he’s not interested in marriage as he has college and law school to get through. They compromise: no marriage, yet she bargains with him, telling him he has to be available for sex whenever she desires him (as the horse is already out of the barn, so to speak).
During this time, at fifteen, she begins to study under Daniel Chester French, the world-renowned sculptor. Later, she moves to Boston and studies art there, hobnobbing with such notables as Isabella Stewart Gardner and John Singer Sargent. Beyond this, there is little about her growth as an artist. She marries Thomas Swan, a physician. He’s a good provider, but a lackluster lover. She has a studio at home but is rarely seen working in it. We hear nothing about her studies, and her artistry seems more like a side note as opposed to something that truly drives her. Rather, she spends most of her time bemoaning her love life (or lack there of), the baby (Kurt’s) she aborted, and her infatuation with the young blind painter, Linton Bower. Before she takes off to France, only three works of art are mentioned: the faun she lets melt in a rainstorm, her Diana which finally sells to an unknown buyer, and the Narcissus which she sees as a symbol of modern nations driving themselves to war, for which she plans to use Bower as a model.
This book seemed to be more about social issues (her pre-marital sexual experiences), infidelity, women’s issues (women weren’t felt to have the necessary range of artistic ability to become sculptors), and discrimination (Emma took her Irish housekeeper to a social event just to rile her hostess); however, I never saw her development as a sculptress.
Emma goes to France at her husband’s request. He describes how an English physician is making masks for soldiers with damaged faces, and Thomas feels her skills as a sculptress might help her help them (this despite her lack of skill with faces). There she further explores her sexuality.
COMMENTS ON THE AUDIOBOOK:
Sarah Mollo-Christensen, the narrator of The Sculptress, has a very pleasant speaking voice. She is able to assume different voices for each character, though her male voices tend to all sound alike. She does a great job on Emma’s voice, that of Emma’s best friend, and the Irish maid.