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Beautiful American

by Jeanne Mackin
Beautiful American

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  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9780451465825
ISBN10: 0451465822
Condition: Like New


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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

From Paris in the 1920s to London after the Blitz, two women find that a secret from their past reverberates through years of joy and sorrow....

As recovery from World War II begins, expat American Nora Tours travels from her home in southern France to London in search of her missing sixteen-year-old daughter. There, she unexpectedly meets up with an old acquaintance, famous model-turned-photographer Lee Miller. Neither has emerged from the war unscathed. Nora is racked with the fear that her efforts to survive under the Vichy regime may have cost her daughters life. Lee suffers from what she witnessed as a war correspondent photographing the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.

Nora and Lee knew each other in the heady days of late 1920s Paris, when Nora was giddy with love for her childhood sweetheart, Lee became the celebrated mistress of the artist Man Ray, and Lee's magnetic beauty drew them all into the glamorous lives of famous artists and their wealthy patrons. But Lee fails to realize that her friendship with Nora is even older, that it goes back to their days as children in Poughkeepsie, New York, when a devastating trauma marked Lee forever. Will Nora's reunion with Lee give them a chance to forgive past betrayals… and break years of silence to forge a meaningful connection as women who have shared the best and the worst that life can offer?

A novel of freedom and frailty, desire and daring, The Beautiful American portrays the extraordinary relationship between two passionate, unconventional women.

Readers Guide Included

Review

“Readers will rank [it] right up there with The Paris Wife….A brilliant, beautifully written literary masterpiece.” New York Times bestselling author Sandra Dallas

Review

“Will transport you to expat Paris… and from there take you on a journey through the complexities of a friendship…breathes new life into such luminaries as Man Ray, Picasso, and, of course, the titular character, Lee Miller, while at the same time offering up a wonderfully human and sympathetic protagonist in Nora Tours.” Suzanne Rindell, author of The Other Typist

Review

“Leaves its essence of love, loss, regret, and hope long after the novel concludes." Erika Robuck, author of Fallen Beauty

Review

“Achingly beautiful and utterly mesmerizing….Sure to appeal to fans of Paula McLain's The Paris Wife and Erika Robuck's Call Me Zelda, or indeed to anyone with a taste for impeccably researched and beautifully written historical fiction.” Jennifer Robson, author of Somewhere in France

Review

“An engaging and unforgettable novel. I couldn't put it down.” Renee Rosen, author of Dollface

Review

"An exquisitely imagined and beautifully rendered story of the talented, tragic, gorgeous Lee Miller." Becky E. Conekin, author of Lee Miller in Fashion

About the Author

Jeanne Mackin teaches creative writing at Goddard College in Vermont and has taught or conducted workshops in Pennsylvania, Hawaii and New York. She lives with her husband, artist Steve Poleskie, in upstate New York. She is also the author of several novels: The Sweet By and By, Dreams of Empire, The Queens War, and The Frenchwoman.

4.5 2

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Average customer rating 4.5 (2 comments)

`
amybooksy , March 24, 2021 (view all comments by amybooksy)
I found Jeanne Mackin’s The Beautiful American to be a pretty good read. Nora and Lee’s story is a unique one. I was intrigued by their relationship and interesting how they were able to reconnect. There are a few lessons that can be learned. These include: learning to move on from the past, learning the power of forgiveness and learning what is truly important in life. It was fascinating to see famous artists and photographers between the pages. I loved they were brought back to life. I am giving The Beautiful American four stars. I recommend this one for readers who enjoy reading historical fiction, especially those focused on early to mid twentieth century. I look forward to more by Jeanne Mackin in the future. She has earned herself new fan. I received a paperback copy of The Beautiful American from the author. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.

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PearsonOldmitz , June 04, 2014 (view all comments by PearsonOldmitz)
This newest novel from Jeanne Mackin is a breathtaking look at art and politics in the years leading up to World War II. Based on the life of the beautiful Lee Miller, the model turned photographer, it follows the friendship between Lee and Nora, a childhood friend who meets up with her again in the dizzying Paris of the 30's and 40's. Lee lived bravely, even recklessly, matching the wild surrealists in their search for art and pleasure and eventually making the leap from mistress and model to artist in her own right. Lee Miller photographed battles and, at the closing of the war, the liberation of the concentration camps. The novel is beautifully written, carefully researched, a can't-put-it-down-read.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780451465825
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
06/03/2014
Publisher:
NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY
Pages:
352
Height:
1.00IN
Width:
5.40IN
Thickness:
1.00
Age Range:
18 and up
Grade Range:
13 and up
UPC Code:
9780451465825
Author:
Jeanne Mackin
Author:
Jeanne MacKin
Subject:
Literature-A to Z

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